Summary: Ezra Bennett is an average guy, going through life as a student at his local community college. He wonders if he'll ever come out of his daily, gray, musings. When his teacher assigns him a project, little does he know that it'll lead him through a roller coaster of events that'll change the course of his life forever. And it all begins underneath the flower grove.
Prologue: A Blank TV Screen
The static buzzed and hummed lowly in Ezra's ears as his eyes adjusted to the only light source in the room, the television. It was sunny out, but the blinds were tightly drawn shut, and he preferred it that way. The outside world caused too many distractions, and on days like these he needed all the concentration he would get.
Hunched over the tiny desk in the dorm room he shared with his classmate, Ezra writes meticulously in his thick black journal, the scratching of pencil against paper creating the right amount of noise needed, keeping his focus in check. He's got too much to say, too much to do, and the only thought in his head is scratch scratch scratch scratch.
He rubs his eyes tiredly as he writes, the once neat loops of his characters becoming messy and illegible. They're too wide, too thin, not pressed hard enough as the gray colors the white pages. But he cannot stop now. He's almost done, and then he'll take a break. Then the cycle will repeat itself. Work, break, work, break, over and over like the reruns of old movies he sees on the dingy black TV, well, if the TV works. But it almost never does, and no matter what Ezra and his roommate do to fix it, it remains broken, always on, always static.
But Ezra has grown used to it. The static and the humming, and scratching and turning of pages. Everything was routine, and everything should be that way. Moments later, he looks up from his work. What time was it? What day was it? Ezra rubs his eyes as he looks down at what he’s done. The entire page was gray with messy words. He rubbed his red eyes. Maybe it was time for a break. But a break would shatter the concentration and that couldn’t happen.
Walking into the adjoining kitchen, Ezra passes in front of a hallway mirror. He stops in front of it. The lights weren’t even on, but that was ok. He could still see a little bit of his reflection in the glass. Dark circles under dark eyes, pale face and chapped lips, unkempt and wild curls for hair. He looked like a mess, but shrugs it off. There’s no time for that. The routine must be followed. Shaking his head, Ezra grabs a protein bar and walks back to his desk, the rhythmic drip drip drip of the sink matching his footsteps.
He continues diligently, writing and erasing, thinking and revising, taking occasional nibbles from the protein bar. Was that the only thing he’s had today? But he has no time. He needs to finish this draft and type it up. That’s been the only thing on his mind lately. It’s what’s been keeping him going. He needs to, needs to, needs to need to hurry up and get back to work faster and faster and faster before it’s too late-
Ezra drowns out those thoughts, only focusing on the static and scratches. Eyes on the page, he makes his revisions with black ink. The ink is a stark contrast to the gray pencil and Ezra blinks every time he has to make a mark. His corrections are too numerous and silly, and he clicks his tongue in frustration. But he carries on, pressing the tip of the pen into the paper minute after minute, skimming and flipping page after page for mistake after mistake after mistake until there was nothing left for him to correct. When he’s finished, frustrated, his hands are stained with black ink. Ezra looks down at them, his poor hands. They were stained and calloused, red from working too hard for so many hours.
And how much longer does he have to work? How much longer does he have to do this? Ezra looked down at his black and gray page and then to the drawn curtains. He shakes his head. Enough of those thoughts. He’s got a deadline to meet, and it’s coming up soon. Steeling himself, Ezra shuffles around the living room, careful not to trip over the paper balls of rejected letters and offers. He wanders around blindly, trying to find where he last placed his laptop, or his glasses since it was getting hard to see now.
Suddenly, his vision darkens and his legs stop moving then and there. Ezra falls to the dark, carpeted floor with a soft thud. Groaning, Ezra grips his head in pain. He suddenly feels dizzy and takes deep breathes as he regains his senses. What did he even fall over? That didn’t matter as he lays there, in the dark, on the floor like a nocturnal creature. He shields his eyes, but he could still see the bright lights of the TV through his fingers, the static and humming. It was nothing but that, he was alone with a broken TV, with a blank screen. The noises became louder. They hurt his head too much and he curls up. Maybe it was time for a break, and when he was no longer dizzy and sick and oh why is the room spinning please make it stop-
He’ll go back to work. Just like routine.
***
A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome to the beginning of Underneath the Flower Grove! This is my first ever original work, and constructive criticism is always welcome and appreciated. Thank you :D
Until the Flavor's Gone, 18/? (Biadore) - Kitschy Pixel
A/N: Well. Hello. I realize it’s been a very long time. I’ve been busy and also? This chapter was just a pain for so many reasons. I hope it was worth the wait though! Many thanks to Veronica for looking over this and making sure it wasn’t just a garbled mess. Feel free to follow me @kitschypixel because sometimes I post stuff.
In this chapter, it’s time to face the aftermath of the night before, and everyone does a little bit of soul searching. Let’s talk about feelings, shall we?
No real warnings expect for the usual excessive swearing, references to drug use, and a reminder that everyone flirts with everyone.
Chapter 18
Shane felt good. Nope. Shane felt great. Sated, satisfied, sensuous, salacious, showered. He felt it all right now and it was nothing short of fantastic. He hummed to himself as he leisurely walked down the hallway to Danny’s hotel room, his gait turning into a skip as he rushed to catch the very person he had to thank for his wonderful evening.
Roy lifted his head and instinctively wrapped an arm around as Shane bounded into him, chin to his shoulder and nose to his neck. “You’re chipper. Feel better?”
“Fan-tas-tic…” Shane purred before he pulled away and took Roy’s face in his palms. “You’re an angel.”
“Haven’t heard that one before,” Roy quipped, fingers tapping on Shane’s wrists. “I need to get going.”
Shane rolled his eyes and offered up a cheeky little grin that made his eyes sparkle a little with mischief. “Right. Of course. Don’t let me keep you.”
“It’s tempting,” Roy mused, just short of under his breath, flicking his eyes to Shane’s face to gauge his reaction. Shane shrugged, sparing Roy his opinion, smacking his lips together instead as he leaned back against the hotel door. Roy raised an eyebrow, “That it?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yeah, right.”
Shane lifted his hands up in surrender. “Listen. If you want to spend the rest of your life with generic underwear model number 5, you certainly don’t have to fight for my blessing. Do what you want as long as you’re happy,” he paused for a beat, pursed his lips and tilted his head. “Are you happy?”
Roy stumbled a bit on his answer, which was still wrought with sarcasm, “Sunshine and roses.”
Shane snorted back a laugh before curling his upper lip over his teeth and clamping his mouth shut tight. He mulled it all over, taking in the way Roy dawdled about and searched for ways to extend the conversation. “Okay…” he hummed. “If you’re dead set on ruining my wonderful night by needing my opinion, let’s head to the lobby.”
“Oh please, you love giving your opinion…”
Shane flicked Roy lightly on the cheek in protest but said nothing else as they both headed to the elevator. Their trip to the lobby was quiet, and the conversation didn’t pick back up until Roy checked his phone, making a show at calculating how much time he had left.
“You could just not go, you know. Just stay here. We can find space for you in one of the rooms.”
“Choose Boston over New Orleans?”
“Or choose spending time with friends who care about you instead of some petulant brat who wants to make you something you already said you aren’t,” Shane shot back, which made Roy laugh as he sat back into one of the lobby sofas that was a bit too stiff and a bit too deep to be reasonably comfortable. He chose to slouch at an odd angle to keep his feet touching the ground as Shane curled up beside him, elbow on the cushion above Roy’s head.
“Tell me how you really feel.”
“That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? My expert advice on your shit relationship?” Shane asked with a smile and a few coy bats of his eyelashes. “Remind me what you did that prompted this rather sudden trip to New Orleans that just had to happen when two of your closest friends – one you’ve had a past sexual relationship with and the other you could have had if you weren’t such a coward – ah!” He reached out and pressed his finger to Roy’s lips and shushed the protest, “Don’t argue with me when I’m making a point. Which was… oh yes! Your sudden need to leave town because we were going to be in New York and wanted to see you.” He snapped his fingers and looked heavenward. “A small vacation in your home town just seems like a very big apologetic gesture for you… and for what? Getting jerked off by some stranger in a bar bathroom?”
“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘cheating’,” Roy remarked as he stared blankly at the exit, suddenly reconsidering if he should have stayed for this.
“Cheating? I’m sorry, did you actually promise to be exclusive with this one? You never do that.”
“I… no. It was just… eventually assumed,” Roy closed his eyes to ignore the sharp ‘by him’ that Shane inserted before continuing, “I was hoping this would work.”
“Why? Do you actually see a future with this guy?”
Roy shrugged a shoulder, whispering a soft ‘probably not’.
“Mmm… okay.” Roy shifted a bit as Shane seemed to absent-mindedly play with his hair, the pads of his fingers brushing his ear in a way that Roy was fine with. “You wanna know what I think?” Shane grinned at Roy’s eye roll. “I think you can find better ways to spend your time than trying to keep up with some young trade that’s… what? Ten years younger? Who you’re just going to get bored with because he wants to challenge you in all the wrong ways.”
“I’ve been with younger.”
“Yeah, I know. They’re sleeping upstairs. Also? Not my point.” Shane frowned as he tilted his head. “Be honest with me. Why try to make this work? Why do you even want to? You’re not exactly the long term relationship type. Is it about sex, loneliness? What?”
Roy jerked his head away slightly to shimmy upwards so his back could be a little straighter. He pressed his lips tightly together to delay speaking for just a few more minutes and Shane began to think he just wasn’t going to answer. Then, slowly, with a voice uncharacteristically soft, he replied, “I don’t want to be that guy–” he gestured upwards before Shane got a chance to implore further. “The guy who does that to someone.”
Shane’s lips twitched into a smile as the pieces to Roy’s predicament started to click together and he shook his head. “Well look at you, growing a conscience… and you can’t even do that right.” He ignored Roy’s scoff and continued, talking over any argument that Roy had ready, “You are not the same as Danny’s ex. You didn’t make promises and you didn’t lie when you got caught breaking them. You just did what you always do. You decided to like a guy, got bored, and fessed up. You don’t need to make yourself miserable with someone who wants some different version of you to prove yourself. Some of us like you just the way you are.”
Roy wrinkled his nose a bit, pressing his tongue to the side of his cheek before he sat back up and stretched, cracking his back. “Well… that was gross and sappy.”
“You wanted my opinion!”
“Yeah. I thought you were going to be an asshole. Not pull this Mr. Rogers shit.”
Shane lightly swatted Roy on the arm, “See if I help you again then, you dusty old cunt!”
Roy caught Shane’s hand and pulled him forward into some kind of half hug, index finger to his chin as he released him. His eyes sparkled with a look that stirred up memories of flirting during fittings and the exchange of phone numbers from years ago. Shane squirmed a little and in a flash, it was gone as Roy broke away and gathered himself up to finally leave.
“Are you going to make your flight?”
Roy shook his head, a strange smile playing at the edge of his lips as he slung his carry on bag over his shoulder, “What flight?”
Shane’s eyes widened as he caught on quick, “Ahhhh,” he held up a finger and aimed it towards Roy, whose smile only turned into a wicked little smirk as if he was the most clever person in the world, “You never had to re-route a flight, did you?” Roy shook his head, “Because you two have already broken up.” A nod. Shane lifted his foot in a poorly executed kick in Roy’s direction, barely brushing his knee. “When?”
“After you called. We had a fight. I might’ve told him he wouldn’t be so insecure if he put out more. Maybe. I don’t know. It’s a bit of a blur.”
“You’re such a dick.”
“Yes, well…” Roy just made a vague hand gesture into the wind and shrugged the whole thing off. “Don’t tell him, okay?”
“What? That you’re a dick? I’m pretty sure he already knows, but I’ll pull it from the newsletter.”
Roy rolled his eyes and shook his head, “No. I mean… you know what I mean.”
“I know what you mean,” Shane leaned forward with his chin on his knuckles and an angelic smile on his face, “Your secret’s safe for now. Go. Be a free, single man! Even though you could easily just stay here and be free and single with us.”
“Can’t. I do have an actual ride back that I need to get to before he leaves without me.”
“Ooooh, what kind of ride? Do I know him? Is he cute?”
“None of your fucking business!”
“So you should introduce me!”
“You wish!”
Shane blew a kiss and winked from where he was still perched as Roy retreated towards the door with a cackle and a middle finger. Shane watched him disappear, blinking a few times when he realized he was biting lightly at his bottom lip and wiped the slightly goofy grin from his face. He cleared his throat and looked upwards before making his way back to Danny’s room to provide a much needed wake-up call.
––––
The first thing Danny became aware of was the smell of a very familiar coconut-based body wash that seemed to wrap around him and make him smile. He groaned and dissolved into a fit of giggles seconds later, wiping at his cheek and craning his neck to grin at his new guest. “If you’re gonna use tongue to wake me, just give me a blow job.”
There was a light laugh and a soft hum as the arms around his waist loosened a little with a playful nip at his ear. “Crude but tempting. I’ll consider it for next time.”
“Finally,” Danny replied with a dreamy sigh before another set of giggles bubbled forward. He pulled away so he could turn over, facing a rather blissful Shane laying next to him. “You look happy.”
“I’m just relieved you got some proper sleep.”
“Shut up. You got dick.”
Shane wrinkled his nose and stuck his tongue out before sitting up and leaning back against the headboard. “Lady never tells.”
“Good thing you’re a slut. Fess up! Was he hot?”
“Gorgeous. Didn’t mind the drag either, which saved a lot of time for other things. Okay kisser, nice dick, great sex – very eager – and I still had time to shower before getting back here. Ideal night.”
“I’m glad Roy could give you the night off.” Danny shot a glance to Shane’s face and watched his reaction. Shane blinked and opened his mouth to possibly deny Danny’s insinuation before simply closing it and offering a quiet apology. He curled around Shane’s lap, cheek against his thigh, “I get it, I wasn’t being fair.”
“Mmm… he didn’t scar you for life or anything, did he?”
“Who? Roy?” Danny lifted his head a little as Shane hummed again in affirmation. “No,” Danny continued, pressing his lips tightly together before rolling onto his back and staring at the hotel ceiling. “He was actually not bad given… you know… the emotions.”
“I see he got you to wash your hair, though.”
“Ugh. He helped me wash it in the empty bathtub. It was so gross and humiliating. I cried about everything.” Danny paused for a beat to cringe, lip curling up in disgust with himself as the memories from the night before washed over him in a fresh, chilled wave of shame. He closed his eyes tightly and groaned, bringing his fingers to his eyes and pressing hard against them. “Fuck… I don’t know how I’m going to face him again.”
Shane reached over to gently wrap Danny’s freshly cleaned hair around the tip of his index finger before sighing, “He’s probably been in similar or worse circumstances, you know.”
“Yeah… funny how that doesn’t make me feel any better,” Danny spat out a little before he dropped his hand to his side and tilted his head a little to catch Shane’s slight eye roll. “Fuck. And I’m still being an asshole to you.”
“A bit, yeah…”
“What the fuck is wrong with me?” Danny’s eyes combed through the rather passive expression on Shane’s face – searching out an answer that the current silence wasn’t giving him before he propped himself up onto his elbows and groaned again. “Yeah, don’t answer that,” he muttered before he shimmied himself up slowly to sit upright, only to hunch forward and stare at himself in the obnoxiously large mirror that was across from them both.
The silence persisted until finally, Shane spoke up – slow and deliberate and delicate. “Question. Was it really that terrible to see him last night?”
“Yes!” Danny rolled his eyes, the light smile tempering the horror he still clutched to tightly. “I felt like such a child. You try getting a sponge bath from a guy you used to fuck, see how you feel.”
“Hot.”
“Oh fuck off. Don’t make it weird.”
“Mmm… think it’s a bit late for that.”
Danny pressed his middle finger to his temple, laughing in spite of himself before giving voice to a thought that’d laid dormant from when he first saw Roy again last night to now. “Hey… how’d you even get him here?”
“Oh, easy. I asked.”
“… so… you didn’t tell him about… was it Philly?”
“Cleveland.”
“Fuck. I knew it.”
“And no, I didn’t.” Shane sighed, reaching out to fuss with some stray strands of Danny’s hair. “I just told him I was worried. That’s all.” He tilted his head as he watched Danny visibly process the information. “You know how it is. You badger him enough and he can be reliable to a fault.”
Danny dropped the subject with a quiet, ‘yeah’, before shifting to the present with a few slow blinks and small shake to his head. “Made me realize this tour was a bad idea…” He picked up his phone and stared at it.
“You need a moment alone?”
“No..” Danny shifted so he could curl against Shane with the phone to his ear, finding an anchor as he waited for his tour manager to answer.
––––
The months after Boston, Danny had been dealing with the aftermath – clawing out of rock bottom and facing the consequences. He’d been so busy trying to do damage control so he could pick up his tour once it was rescheduled that he neglected one little loose end that he knew he had to handle at some point.
Roy.
He’d been ignoring the text messages so far, not really ready to relive the humiliation of that night in the form of an apology he knew he owed. And when he saw Roy’s status on social media turn to “single”? Well… now he just felt guilty, as if he’d somehow been at fault (even if that was irrational).
So he’d gone through his day to day, checking his phone when a message pinged, trying to get his attention, and every time thinking “I should reply”, before overthinking it and then saying nothing at all. That is, until:
Call me.
It was weird for Roy to be so blunt, and the more he looked at it, the more he began to panic a little. What if there was something serious? What if he was hurt or someone they knew was in the hospital? The number of scenarios running through Danny’s head as he stared at those two words got more and more outlandishly dire until finally…
“Hello?”
“You said ‘call me’, are you okay? Is someone dead? Do I need to fight someone? What happened?”
“No one’s dead. I just wanted to talk to you, calm down.”
Danny’s panic left him in a slow sigh as Roy started giggling through the phone, “Shut up! Everyone knows that ‘call me’ with a period means there’s like… someone’s dead and you might need an alibi level of emergency!”
“Everyone?”
“Everyone!”
“Well, sorry to disappoint you, but everything is fine. Gotcha on the phone though.”
Danny sat still on his bed, squinting at nothing, just picturing the shit eating grin plastered on Roy’s face. “You fucking dick.”
There was a cackle on the other side, which helped break this weird tension in Danny’s chest as he started to recline back into his bed. Of course Roy would make it easy – for Danny to just slide past the consequences and back into the jokes and random rambling that kept them friends. No expectations of apologies or explanations. Just a reset button and a fresh start.
And Danny couldn’t do it.
He was quiet as Roy’s laughter petered out in soft little giggles, took a breath, and braced himself for ice water.
“Sorry I’ve been avoiding you.”
“Eh,” Danny could hear Roy shuffle his phone from one ear to another, “It’s fine–”
“It’s not though!” Danny shot up and started to pace. “It was a shit thing to do…”
“Dan-”
“No! No. I… gotta do this.” He took a breath and sat back down, still fidgeting as he tried to focus on what he’d been trying to script for the past few months. When that failed, he winged it. “I was embarrassed that you like… showed up and saw me like that. It’s not your job to like… take care of me or whatever the fuck – and don’t say it’s no big deal because it fucking is! It wasn’t fun, it wasn’t cute, I was a fucking nightmare and – would you stop laughing for two seconds!?”
Roy’s giggles had started up again in the midst of Danny baring his soul – be it from disbelief, nerves from the seriousness of the moment, or maybe a mixture of the two. Danny could hear him clear his throat and take a pause before urging him to continue with a very soft ‘go on’.
“Thank you, what was I saying?”
“I think you were being way too harsh on yourself.”
“Oh yeah? And how do you figure that?”
There was another long pause and Danny could picture Roy’s hesitance. But Danny stood his ground. This conversation wasn’t going to end just because Roy didn’t want to have it.
“Everyone does stupid shit in the midst of a break-up. So maybe your stupid shit involved you getting high as fuck and not bathing for longer than usual. And maybe you fucking freaked out Courtney, which I guess freaked out me because – Jesus Christ – what were you taking that was freaking out Courtney of all people? So yeah, maybe I wasn’t overly thrilled to be like… hosing you down in a hotel bathroom because you were smelling like sweat and corn chips but… it happened. Because I was worried a little bit. Okay? So like… it’s fine.”
“But it’s not fine.”
“Did I just reset this conversation? What the fuck are you looking for?”
Danny groaned, biting his lip before heaving a huge sigh to finally put words towards something that had been weighing on him for months. “That trip… you coming to see me… you said you and what’s-his-face were… not fine, but like… going to be okay. Or you were making it work. Or… something. And then after… next thing I know, you guys broke up…”
“Okay? What about it?”
“Did you break up because you came to see me? Because I know he wasn’t really thrilled about like… our past or whatever and– and you’re fucking laughing again!”
Roy sucked back his giggles and with a high pitched ‘sorry’, allowed Danny to continue. Danny huffed and then blurted out the last part of his sentence, “Anyway, if you need me to talk to him, to like, tell him that nothing happened between us aside from me making an absolute ass out of myself, I can… or whatever.”
The cackles that erupted made Danny’s cheeks burn and he pouted at his phone. “Or you can just laugh at me!”
“No! No no no… okay. I’m sorry. Alright? I’m sorry for laughing. Hold on.” Roy sucked back a breath and let his voice settle after a few exaggerated renditions of “I’m not laughing at you.” As Danny was about to call bullshit, Roy had managed to wrestle his voice back to a natural pitch. “No! I’m serious. I’m not laughing at you. It has… nothing to do with you, really. Any of it.”
“Any of it?”
“Not a bit.”
“So… you mean… you didn’t break up because he was a jealous twat?”
“Oh, no. We broke up for that exact reason and then some, but it absolutely had nothing to do with me coming to see you.”
“Oh… so… when you said that things were going to be fine?”
“I don’t actually recall you asking if things were fine between me and him. You asked if I was happy. Those are two different things.”
Danny frowned as he tried his best to shuffle through the rather muddled events from that night, and upon coming up with nothing, he conceded. “I don’t remember now…”
“Right,” Roy remarked, the smile conveyed in his voice. “Is this what you’ve been torturing yourself with these past few months?”
“I… maybe?”
“Uh huh.” The silence between the both of them had settled and stretched, past the point of awkward into familiar, before finally, Roy spoke up again. “So… are we actually good now?”
“Yeah…”
“Great. So do me a favor?”
“What?”
“Can we take a break from talking about our feelings for like… awhile? Because frankly, it’s fucking exhausting. I’m not built for this bullshit.”
That got Danny to laugh, and amidst his giggles, he managed to voice an enthusiastic “Deal!” before they said their goodbyes.
Until the Flavor’s Gone (17/?) (Biadore) - Kitschy Pixel
A/N: Oh wow, what’s this? An update so soon? So, THIS! This is the original chapter that I wanted to bring you but couldn’t because it just got too long. You’ve got your set up – here’s where the dominos fall. Huge special thanks to @veronicasanders for keeping me from going positively insane and helping me go through several edits of this monster and as always, feel free to hit me up on my sideblog @kitschypixel. If you’re lucky, sometimes I even take prompts.
In this chapter, time has passed and people move forward, but when you hit a roadblock, sometimes the person you want is the least qualified to help you. And then they show up anyway.
Warnings for language, implied drug use, broken hearts, nosy strangers, and a whole bunch of bullshit.
Chapter 17
They were in Boston.
Well, Courtney was fairly certain they were circling the gates of her own personal hell, but she supposed naming that ‘Boston’ would be good enough. She clutched her phone tightly, thumbs poised over the screen. She checked it regularly, trying not to seem frantic. She pressed her teeth to her bottom lip, her mind so far away she didn’t realize she was being spoken to.
She jerked her attention back to the conversation when her knee was lightly tapped. “We just met and you’re already holding out on me?” The Russian accent broke apart half way through the question and Courtney blinked a few times as she tried to translate until she realized it was already in English.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Your phone! You have like… a death grip. Do you have a… gentleman caller… lined up and ready to pound that pussy into oblivion?” The purr towards the end caused Courtney to laugh before she blew out a breath she forgot she was holding.
“God, I wish. No… I’m actually just waiting for a friend – an actual friend, that’s not a euphemism – anyway. I’m waiting for him to show up so he can take Adore to the hotel…”
“Ahhhh – is this about the – “ there was a couple of snorts and a vague gesture that Courtney felt wasn’t quite as universal as the queen across from her assumed, “you know. Whatever.”
Well, Courtney got the gist regardless and she nodded in response.
“Yes… I kind of wish I knew what it was…”
“Well,” Finger tips tapped across bright red lips as the dishevelled blonde queen squinted in thought. “Do you remember what the guy looked like? You know, the one who did the offering?”
“Mmm… brunette. Square jaw… kind of that few days without shaving look… a bit over six foot with broad shoulders wearing very tight pants…” She watched as the queen nodded and hummed, “Does he sound familiar to you at all?”
“Hmmm?” She blinked the distant look from her eyes before shaking her head, “No. Honestly, I’m just really horny and he sounded like he could be hot.” She bit her lip in a very poor attempt to look at least a little chagrined before she burst with a hiss of snickers she couldn’t be bothered to hold back.
Courtney mentally noted that she should be far more irritated by the fruitless conversation, but she found herself laughing along with the hysteric giggles instead. It helped loosen her grip a little on her phone and get her mind to drift from the rather stressful week and a half of playing mom on tour (not including the numerous weeks prior that had since blurred together). “I’m sorry… I can’t remember your name…”
“Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova,” she rattled off and punctuated with a snap. Courtney’s eyes crossed a little at the mouthful and tentatively started to repeat it back.
“Ye… yekata.. keta?”
“Katya,” she interjected with wide grin.
“Thank God.”
“That works too!”
Both of their heads spun towards the door when it opened, and Katya groaned dramatically in disappointment. “False alarm, it’s just… that one,” she gestured towards the short goth queen that tried to slink in stealthily, only to nearly shut her own foot in the door.
“Hey!” The queen sniffed indignantly and Courtney greeted her with a soft and hesitant hello before she re-introduced herself. “Laila.”
“Right. Sorry.” Courtney was answered with a shrug as Laila wandered over to where they were sitting and perched herself nearby. “How’s she doing out there?”
“Who? Our little drag star?” Laila batted her eyes with a dreamy sigh before cackling a bit and shrugged. “Jumped into the crowd to make out with some guy in the middle of a song and then when she tried to climb back up, she tripped and totally ate shit. It was kinda great.”
“Great…”
“As graceful as you are, I can see,” Katya jabbed lightly before Laila let out an exaggerated ‘hah!’ in response.
“I don’t have 100K followers so I can trip all I want and no one sees it.”
“It explains your tips.”
“You know what? Fuck you,” She wrinkled her nose and looked between the two queens before pointing to the phone Courtney still kept clutched in both hands. “What’s with the death grip?”
“Oh! We’re waiting for ~a man~” Katya dropped her voice into another husky growl before Courtney cleared her throat to interject.
“It’s…” She lifted one finger, taking a moment to pause before continuing her thought, “… not as suggestive as Katya makes it sound…”
“Is he hot?” Laila swung her legs a little, while Katya snapped a few times.
“Oh! Yes! Asking the real questions here!”
“No.” Courtney scoffed, almost like a reflex. She wrinkled her nose as she started to quickly backpedal with a sound akin to a deflating balloon, “eeee-weeeell… okay. I mean… he’s not ugly. He looks fine… so… yeah, okay he is kind of hot… like I wouldn’t say no if I didn’t know him… but… yeah, no. Okay… ummm….” She pressed her lips together tightly, “It’s complicated.”
“How is that compli–” the question got cut off when Courtney’s phone buzzed and she checked it with a sigh of relief before jumping up and spinning around to face the other two.
“Okay. He’s here. Behave! Especially you!” She pointed a finger at Katya who snapped at it with her teeth while making snarling noises. With another spin she darted towards the door, keeping it propped open with her back as she caught sight of Roy being let in through a nearby exit.
Courtney waved him over and wrapped him into a tight hug the second he was close enough with a soft ‘thank God’ punctuated by a deep inhale.
“Not God, but close… did you just sniff me?”
Courtney pressed her nails into his back, “No.”
“I think you did.”
“You know what? I’m not going to argue with you. I’m just glad you’re here. Come on.”
She pulled him into the dressing room, watching as Laila and Katya both perked up at his arrival. She didn’t have a chance to get another word out before Katya raised her hand.
“Excuse me, but how is this yes/no complicated hot?”
Roy’s eyebrows shot up and Courtney rolled her eyes before she gestured with her best Vanna White hands, “This is Roy,” she cut off the coy ‘hi Roy’s with a quick follow up. “And Bianca del Rio.”
“Oh? Oh. Oooooooh! Okay. Yes/no complicated it stays.”
Courtney pulled Roy off to the side as he still mused on the ‘yes/no complicated’. “Roy. Please. Focus.”
“I would but this doesn’t seem like the same kind of emergency you described over the phone. Where is she?”
“Adore?” Courtney waved in the general direction of the floor before she started to text rather rapidly, “She’s still on stage.”
Roy frowned at Courtney’s rather frantic texting, clutching the carry on bag slung over his shoulder close, trying to match up what Courtney’s ominous message meant to him with what was actually going on. “So, she’s on stage? Then she’s okay. You made it sound like she was dying.”
“Not dead yet, but she’s trying,” Courtney held up a finger at Roy’s inquisitive ‘what the fuck does that mean?’ and closed her eyes to try to keep her thoughts from spiralling off into different directions. “She’s high.”
“Good for her. Think she’ll share?”
“Roy,” Courtney snapped and gave him a stern look, “I need you to be serious right now.”
“I am being serious! What the fuck is with you? Since when are you a prude?”
Courtney sucked in a breath and stared at Roy for a long moment, just to level out her increasing annoyance at his ignorance of the situation. He had re-routed his flight and delayed his trip to New Orleans (that he was taking with his boyfriend, she mentally noted) in order to come to Boston at her request out of the concern she’d raised about Adore’s current state. He wasn’t the type to fully understand this level of heartbreak, so she pressed her lips together tightly as she tried to find words he could comprehend.
Gathering up her last bit of patience, Courtney gripped Roy by the shoulders, looked him in the eye, and began to explain – slowly. “I’m not worried about the drugs. I’m worried about the motive,” the way his eyes shot up with a sigh was enough to register that he understood what she was implying, so she moved on. “She’s got one more song and an encore, but she’s so fucking out of it, who’s to really say… I’ve alerted our driver to be on standby to take you guys back to the hotel. I just need you to keep an eye on her.”
“Why me?”
“Because she really wants to see you… and if I try to handle it anymore, I might lose my entire mind.”
“Courtney needs a strong drink and a good dick?”
“Fuck you, but yes.”
She reached out and clamped his lips shut with the tips of her fingers as she heard Adore stumble through the door, palms clamping down on her shoulders as Adore struggled to keep upright. A hoarse laugh erupted with a quiet ‘sorry’ and Courtney forced a smile and a quiet ‘it’s fine’ as Adore breezed past them both. She wagered Adore wouldn’t even have been aware of either of them if she hadn’t tripped into them. So, she cleared her throat and raised her voice a little to catch her attention.
“Adore? Look who’s here!”
Courtney lightly slapped Roy’s shoulder when he winced at the shrill pitch of her voice and shot him a really good death glare when he grimaced as Adore came closer.
“Holy fuck… are you supposed to be here?” Roy still hadn’t turned around instead craning his neck a little far when Adore wrapped her arms around him from behind and pressed her nose in the crook of his neck. “I thought you were supposed to be… to be… somewhere not here! What are you doing?”
“I… uh…” Roy looked to Courtney who shook her head and he faked a cough. Neither of them really had enough time to come up with a plausible story as to why Roy would be here and at this point, at least Roy assumed, that the truth wouldn’t be swallowed very well. So without a convincing lie, he was left floundering a little. He stopped just short of using his boyfriend as an excuse when he felt another stern look before he finally settled, rather lamely with, “I could swing it… so I’m here– wait, are you bleeding?”
Adore looked down and laughed, pointing at her knee, “Oh yeah! I need to get something for that…” She wandered over to Laila who was holding up a box of Band Aids, “Oh! They sparkle! Gimme!”
Roy got cut off from whatever smart remark he had loaded and ready by Courtney grabbing his elbows in a vice grip and a firm ‘don’t you dare’ with a growl in her voice and fire in her eyes.
“Careful, or people will know you’re a man,” Roy shot off, wrenching himself from her when she squeezed. “Owowowow!”
“I’m dead serious right now, Roy and I am begging – absolutely begging – for you to do your best to scrounge up a little self awareness and some empathy. Please.”
“Are you sure she’s not dead? She smells like she’s rotting…”
“Roy!”
“What?”
Courtney shot a look to Adore, who was still fussing with… something… she couldn’t tell what before she grabbed Roy and steered him closer to the door, dropping her voice again. “Please. Just… do this.”
“Okay, fine… but she needs to like… bathe.”
“Well, if she drowns, that’s your responsibility.”
“Really?” Roy’s jaw dropped as he shot his own appalled look at Courtney, “Are you saying you wouldn’t help me hide the body? What kind of friend are you?”
“The kind that wouldn’t let a friend accidentally drown–”
“– who said it would be an accident?”
“Roy!” Another hiss. “Empathy! Please!”
“Fine! I’ll drown her in empathy, how’s that? Now go get fucked before you become an even bigger bitch and I have two bodies I need to deal wiiiii – hi!” He slapped Courtney’s shoulder with the back of his hand when she snorted at the way his voice cracked and they both turned to face a blinking Adore. They all stood awkwardly before Courtney finally spoke up.
“So… um… Adore… Roy’s going to take you back to the hotel, okay?”
“Why?”
Roy quirked an eyebrow to see just how Courtney was going to spin this without sounding like she was trying to be Adore’s mother. It took a few long seconds before she finally managed, “Well… I mean… I figured you two might want some time to yourselves? Catch up? I mean.. It’s been… how long?”
Roy didn’t get to answer because Adore seemed to fold rather quickly, nodding quietly before offering a smile that failed to reach her eyes. “Yeah… you’re right. It has been awhile, hasn’t it?” She bit her bottom lip, eyes rolling back in thought before she shrugged one shoulder. “I’ll just get my stuff.”
Not much else was said, there was an “I told you” dancing across Courtney’s tongue but she managed to keep it bitten back. Roy and Adore left in silence but everyone in the room noticed the firm hand pressed in the small of Adore’s back as they did. Courtney sighed from relief, trying to shake off the lingering guilt for getting a little bit more involved than she probably should have – but in her defense, she hadn’t betrayed Adore’s trust outright. Roy still didn’t know the details as Courtney knew them, she’d kept the exact circumstances of her call close to her chest.
She was doing the right thing.
“That hug seemed to linger quite a long time…”
Courtney jumped with Katya at her shoulder and she closed her eyes. “It’d been a while since we’ve seen each other.”
“And did he smell good?”
“He smelled fantastic.”
Katya nodded sagely as she spun Courtney around, took her hands and patted at them gingerly, “Don’t worry, you’re in my hands now and I will take very good care of you. Do you like go-go boys with great asses and even better dicks?”
“Please.”
“Perfect.”
–––––––––––––––––––––
Adore hit the bed hard with a groan, twisting up into a ball and just staring up at the ceiling. She waited for Roy to say something first and when he didn’t, just sighed. She held onto the silence until it started to become painful, blurting out the first thing that came to mind. “So what’d Courtney tell you to get you here?”
She heard the hotel bed creak as he sat down near her at the foot of the bed, her eyes sliding to his back as she waited for him to answer. She watched as he rubbed his face before tilting his head slightly to the side. “She made it sound like it was pretty serious… so I said I’d meet you guys in Boston.”
“Okay but like… what’d she tell you?” Adore pushed herself up onto her side, staring down at the bedspread and tracing the pattern with her two index fingers, squinting a little at how the cheap, thin comforter rippled under her touch and the light scratching noise of her nails against the fabric. “Your… what’s his name… know you’re here?”
“She didn’t really tell me much, Dan–” he cut himself off with the way Adore’s lips twisted a little. The ‘sorry’ so quiet on the exhale, she was almost sure he didn’t say it.
“It’s fine, you know,” she replied anyway, pulling at her wig, “It doesn’t matter. Still me no matter what, right? Just a wig and make-up.”
The scoff was harsh and the way the pins pulled at the hair underneath as she tried to rip the wig off her head made her whine. She batted at his hands as he tried to help before he tried to soothe her with a very gentle “You’re making it worse, asshole. Hold still.”
She fidgeted as he finally finished unpinning the wig and pulled it off with a very soft ‘Christ’. Her eyes stayed on his face as he grimaced, running his hand over the tangled wig that reeked of sweat and stale perfume before he looked it over and asked, “You have a brush for this thing?”
Adore shook her head, “Too punk rock for that shit.”
“Right… and what about your own hair?”
Another shrug and Roy rolled his eyes before taking the empty ice bucket and flipping it upside down, using it as a temporary wig stand before he pointed to the bathroom. “Get up. Go. You’re disgusting. Go!” He waved her to the door until she finally stepped into the bathroom and she got a good look of herself in the mirror. Her hair was greasy and her scalp felt raw, and there were signs where she’d simply just sweated off her make-up and then reapplied for the past couple of nights. “Take your clothes off and get in.”
Standing in the harsh white light of a hotel bathroom, she suddenly didn’t have the energy to really argue. She struggled out of most of her clothes before she turned to the bathtub. “It’s empty.”
“Good job, genius. It’s for the best. Get in.”
Rolling her eyes felt gritty, so she rubbed them instead and did as asked, knees bent, hands on the cold porcelain as she stared at the tile. She scratched a little at the grout before following it with the pad of her finger, pursing her lips and looking pensive as she followed the maze of lines.
The ice water hit her scalp first, ran down the back of her neck and down the center of her spine, making her suck in the myriad of curse words before expelling them in a string of very loud insults, “What the fuck, you rotted cunt? Shit!”
“Keep your voice down. It’s three in the morning.”
Adore sputtered as a damp washcloth was dropped on her head. She took it and wrung it tightly in her hands, staring at it. “What the fuck am I doing?”
“Whore bath for a whore,” Roy spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world as he sat down on the floor, with his back against the tub, setting aside the water glass with the sample sized shampoo and conditioner that had been displayed on the counter. He handed her the make-up wipes he’d found with them, giving her a place to start. She took the hint and removed her lashes, pressing them against the edge of the tub.
It took a moment for him to speak again, as she pouted and scrubbed at the layers of make-up on her face, and when he did – it made her pause.
“So what’d you take tonight?”
There was a twinge of curiosity that cancelled out the usual judgemental tone a question like that usually carried. But she acted as if it was still accusatory, just because she wanted to.
“What’s it matter? Sure it’s nothing compared to the shit you’ve done, right?”
She couldn’t see the way he pressed his lips together, but heard the way he clicked his tongue. “Yeah…” he remarked, slouching a bit and tilting his head back a bit. “Probably right…” Another click and he tilted his head to the side again. “I’m gonna offer you some advice, though…”
“I’m fine.”
“Fact that you smell like a stale bag of Fritos says different, now shut up…” he held up a finger before he sighed. “I’m not gonna tell you what to do, because this is your load of bullshit to deal with… but know what the fuck someone is giving you. Just… in case.”
Adore stared at the foundation streaked make-up wipe before she started to rub furiously at her eyes. “So Courm told you about Cleveland…” she squinted in thought before muttering, “Or was it Philly?”
“No.” Roy raised an eyebrow as he pulled the make-up wipe from her hands when she couldn’t seem to stop staring at it as she twisted it tightly one way and then another. Adore grasped at thin air a few times and then turned to face Roy, resting her chin on the edge of the tub and looked towards his face with wide, puppy-like eyes.
“Can you help me wet my hair?”
They both shuddered at that hollow, rubbery ‘flomp’ sound of skin sliding against the barely damp tub surface. Roy was still wincing as Adore got herself situated, followed by a sheepish ‘sorry’. “It’s fine,” Roy remarked before he turned on the facet to a slow trickle, palm pressing against Adore’s forehead to keep her from knocking it against the metal when she reared upwards when it made contact. “Careful! You don’t need a head injury, Jesus…”
“Are you trying to burn my scalp off now?” Adore seethed and Roy helped her sit up so he could check the water temperature.
“You’re lucky I’m not scrubbing you with Lysol, now quit complaining!” He got the temperature down to just below scalding before he helped Adore lean back again. Her eyes rolled upwards and she closed them for a moment, just letting his fingers press against her scalp before she started sniffling.
“You okay?”
The question sounded stiff and rehearsed with genuine concern bleeding through just enough to soften it.
“Yeah… yeah I’m just…” She sat back up slowly, pressing her fingers into her forehead before a sob burst forward. She sucked it back quickly, palms to her eyes as she forced out a laugh. A hand to her shoulder made her lift her head, and she took the small shampoo bottle that was offered. Clutching it in her fingers, she just stared at it as reality seemed to snap back with harsh lines and sharpened edges before blurring out with the tears that pooled in her eyes.
“You wanna pick an emotion, there?”
“Pathetic and embarrassed,” Adore blinked slowly, letting the tears fall before hiding her face with her knees.
“So normal. Good. I was almost worried.”
A soft giggle shuddered forward, weak and breathless. It made her chest hurt and her heart felt raw but that smile still managed to reach her eyes as she shook her head and hoarsely whispered, “You’re such a fucking dick.”
She lathered up her hair making it stand up straight before looking over at him again. “This would have been so much easier if you’d just let me take a normal shower.”
“Maybe,” he let her lean back, a hand shielding her eyes as he helped her rinse the shampoo from her hair, “But Courtney said she wouldn’t help me hide your body if you drowned, so I couldn’t take that risk.”
She dropped her jaw and looked appalled as she sat back up and sputtered, “You would hide my body? Why not call 911?”
“I’m not going to risk potentially going to jail just because your ex is an asshole… now tip your head back, you’re not done.”
Roy pressed the side of his hand to her forehead as he finished rinsing out her hair. She blinked upwards a few times before closing her eyes. “How do you know he was the asshole? Do you even know what happened or why we broke up? I could have been the one who like… cheated on him or whatever.”
“I know I’ve been busy, but I’m not completely oblivious and I know how social media works. I got the gist of what happened… please don’t start crying again, Jesus Christ.”
“Sorry! I’m sorry… I just…” Roy let her sit up and wipe at her eyes, still sniffling. He looked downward to the floor, letting her compose herself. She swiped her hands across her eyes before sniffling and offering a very weak smile, “You think I’m stupid, don’t you?”
“Yes. But not for what’s…” he made a vague gesture in her direction, “…going on right now…” He tossed a fluffy white towel at her and sighed. “Get out, dry off… find some clean clothes and I’ve got something to show you…” He paused a beat as he caught a very familiar spark in her eyes, “Before you say anything, let me ask you… do you really think it’s a good idea to crack a joke about my dick right now?”
“Well, not when you take the fun out of it like that.”
“Just get dressed.”
–––––––––––––––––––––
Drying off, and feeling kind of clean for the first time in probably four days, he looked in the mirror and saw… Danny. And with Danny came the ugly realization that he was a complete wreck of raw emotion and tangled up heartbreak that he’d been trying to ignore for all of these weeks and was doing a really piss poor job of doing so.
And he started crying again, before he even had a chance to stop it. He was sitting, doubled over, on the lid of the toilet with the towel balled up against his face when Roy came back to check what was taking him so long. His eyes were puffy, his face felt tight, and he was trying to wipe the snot from his nose as he caught sight of Roy loitering in the doorway, fingers tapping rapidly on either side, looking down at the floor.
“Think you’re going to make it or are you living in the bathroom now?”
Danny’s lips twitched and he leaned forward, reaching for Roy and wrapping the fabric of the man’s shirt in his fist before pulling him towards him. Roy complied, letting Danny close the gap between them to wrap his arms tightly around his middle.
“You smell good.”
“It’s called showering regularly. You should try it.”
“Be nice to me or I’ll cry.”
“Hah! Like that’s stopped you so far…” Danny closed his eyes and smiled as Roy lightly played with his hair, ruffling it as he took a step back. “Okay, seriously. This bathroom is making me depressed, can we go now?”
Danny nodded and used Roy to hoist himself back up onto his feet. He shuffled out of the bathroom to his suitcase, dug through it for some underwear and a clean t-shirt, and got dressed as Roy sat on the bed, back against the headboard. He crawled into bed, sliding across the comforter and curling up at Roy’s hip, arm across his lap.
“Sobering up a little?”
There was a non-committal grunt in reply before Danny rolled onto his back, pressed his fingers to his eye sockets for a moment and just stared up at the ceiling. “Fuck…” her muttered before closing his eyes tight. They burned a little from crying. He sniffled again before he finally managed to slide his focus back to Roy. “You said something about a present?”
“Yup,” Roy reached over and grabbed the small carry on bag he had with him and dug around it before producing a Ziploc bag that he tossed onto Danny’s chest. Danny pushed himself up on his elbows and squinted a little as he slowly sat up and opened the bag, removing the stack of papers – no. wait. photos – from inside.
“Oh my God…” He gasped and grinned as he recognized a few of them from Roy’s Facebook. “No way…” he started to rifle through them before his grin broke and softened into a genuine smile. “You brought me baby Bianca pictures?”
“I thought you might get a kick out of them.”
“Holy. Shit…” He couldn’t control the elated giggles, soft and raspy in pure delight as he flipped the photo in his hand over to look at the back. “They’re even dated, you fucking nerd!”
“I can take them back.”
“Noooo!” Danny whined and curved over them to shield the small pile he’d made with his body. “I’m looking!”
He righted himself up and gathered his pile, flipping through each photo, pausing at the ones he hadn’t already seen. He let out a low whistle at one from Bianca’s Cher impersonating days, “Damn, you use to be fucking hot,” he lightly smacked Roy’s thigh at the answering scoff. “Shut up, you know you were hot…” He grinned at the way Roy’s lips twitched to one side and pointed, “See? You know.” He laughed when Roy fell silent and didn’t offer any argument.
Danny thumbed through the pile rather quickly, pausing at some of the photos. There was one he’d set aside to come back to once he got through the rest of the pile, leaving it out as he slid the rest of them back into the Ziploc bag and then handed it to Roy. “Tell me the story on that one…”
Roy raised an eyebrow as he took the photo in hand and tilted his head. Danny wrapped an arm around his middle again, chin on his shoulder and he smiled a little. “Not much to tell…” he mused. “It was… 2001, so I was still in New Orleans. It was a photoshoot that had two other queens… both of them were late as fuck…”
Danny hummed and smiled, “Let me guess… you were on time?” Roy offered him a side glance and a confirming nod, but nothing else before he cleared his throat and shrugged.
“But yeah. That’s really it. This was taken while we were waiting for them. Why do you ask?”
Danny shrugged one shoulder as Roy handed the photo back to him – Bianca looking off into the distance, dressed in white with black hair, the lighting soft and surreal. He took it back and cradled it in his hands. There was something ethereal and warm and very different from the heavy handed camp clown that Bianca had aged into. It made Danny’s heart skip a couple of beats and he held his breath for a second or two before he shrugged again and replied with a fresh smile. “You just look really beautiful, that’s all.”
“Then keep it.”
“Really?”
“What am I going to do with it? If you like it, just have it.”
Danny felt a weird flutter somewhere in his chest, a sense of relief that jumped around a couple times before settling back down and making him feel a little lighter. His smile got wider and sweeter before he leaned in, hugged him and kissed his cheek, before nuzzling his shoulder and sighing from content. “You’re the best. Thank you.”
“Mmhm.”
“I’m serious. Really. Thank you.”
“It’s just a photo, Danny.”
“No. It’s more than that and you know it.”
They sat in silence for a minute or two before Danny got up to put the photo under his phone so he wouldn’t forget it. He settled down, head on the pillow and looked up at Roy before asking, meekly, “Are you happy?”
Roy cocked his head to the side to consider the question, “Do you really want to know?”
“Yeah.”
There was a long sigh before he gave up a nod and a very weak smile that didn’t quite tell everything. “It’s… not really easy right now, but overall? Yeah.”
“Are you in trouble for coming to visit me?”
“No. That’d be the last thing on the list of things I could be in trouble for…” his voice trailed and he shook his head at Danny’s perplexed expression, “I don’t want to get into it tonight.”
“Okay…”
“I’m serious, Danny.”
“Okay! I’m serious too. Subject dropped…” He couldn’t tell if he was being extra touchy just because of whatever leftover effects of… whatever it was that had been offered to him… or if it was just natural for him when he was this close to someone as familiar as Roy, but he found himself fiddling with the belt loop on Roy’s jeans, just picking at it and hooking his finger on it before little it go. Roy didn’t stop him and they stayed in another stretch of silence that Danny broke again.
“When do you have to leave?”
“In a few hours.”
“So if I fall asleep, you’ll probably be gone when I get up?”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. Used to it…” he trailed a bit and wrinkled his nose, “That wasn’t supposed to…”
“Nah. I get it. I know.”
Yet another pause in conversation and Danny started to settle further, “Hey…”
“Mmm?”
“Are you at least going to stay for those few hours?”
Roy nodded before he tilted his head to Danny. “Yeah. I can, if you want.”
“I want…” Danny closed one eye and wrinkled his nose again as he tried to piece together his next request, “Um… can you…? God, this sounds stupid and needy but…” he bit his lip, the words just not falling into place quite right. “Never mind…”
He turned onto his side, back to Roy, until he heard shuffling behind him. He turned over to see Roy settling under the hotel comforter, glasses off and hat removed, a hand under his head and eyes closed. He stared at him for a long moment before Roy cracked open one eye and waved Danny closer. “Stop gawking, asshole. If you want me to stay, I might as well get comfortable.”
The invitation was clear and Danny joined him under the covers, curling up to him and cuddling close. A single arm wrapped around him and one hand rested on his shoulder, that newly freed up spot in his chest filling with a comfortable warmth as he closed his eyes.
“Hey, Roy?”
“Yeah?”
“I hope things work out and you can stay happy.”
“Thanks.”
“Um… Roy?”
“What?”
Danny pressed a light kiss to Roy’s cheek again and whispered to his ear, “Thanks for showing up.”
“Well… it was either show up or listen to Courtney whine until this fucking tour was over, but you’re still welcome.”
Danny hummed and closed his eyes, halfway to sleep before he murmured one more time. “And Roy?”
“What now?”
“You’re so great.”
That got a laugh, a set of fingers pushing back his hair and lips to his forehead. “You’re not so bad yourself. Now get some sleep.”
There was a nearly inaudible ‘okay’ in reply as Danny finally managed to drift off comfortably for the first time in a number of nights that he’d lost count of.
And it wouldn’t be until he half woke up as Roy moved him with a whispered apology so he could gather his stuff – when he was still groggy and still full of sleep, with a cloudy brain and weighted limbs – that he latched onto the pillow that still smelled a little like Roy’s shampoo. It wouldn’t be until he croaked out a slurred ‘good-bye, I miss you’ to Roy’s whispered farewell and he heard the automatic lock on the hotel door click closed and he was finally left alone that a portion of his brain, one caught in between consciousness and sleep, in that sweet limbo where the blankets feel just right against your skin and the temperature in the room is just right and your buzzing brain feels at peace, that Danny could finally feel it.
That rotting, heavy, benign bitterness he’d been toting around for months had finally jarred loose and melted away and the sweet, warm content that had blossomed hours before had decided to take root.
Until the Flavor's Gone (16/?) (Biadore) - Kitschy Pixel
A/N: So. It’s been awhile, hey there, hi there, and hello. Now, here’s the deal of what is going down. This is not the original chapter 16 that I planned to give you guys and this chapter was not the chapter that I’ve been laboriously toiling away at for… an ungoldly number of months.
What happened was, the original chapter 16 was starting to climb into the 20 page mark. So for the sake of just about everyone, I had to split it up, and for the sake of giving you guys an update – I’m posting it now and I think I can promise you guys that you won’t be waiting another seven months for chapter 17. I hope you all can forgive me. Feel free to wander to my sideblog @kitschypixel and let me hear about it.
In this chapter, Danny deals with where they are now, Roy texts the wrong person, and Shane becomes the only audience to the mess that’s on the horizon – for now.
Warnings for language, sexually suggestive text messages, excessive alcoholism, and everyone’s a tease. Including me.
Chapter 16
In the months following Danny’s return from New York, he and Roy barely spoke. Danny blamed a busy schedule, but there was an inexplicable bitterness that still clung onto his chest that he didn’t want to acknowledge. They’d left on good terms, he reasoned, so it shouldn’t be there.
“It’s that one rejection,” Shane remarked off hand as Danny reclined on his couch and tried to describe said feeling to someone who wasn’t himself, “Not to say that you’re the type to be mad at someone for saying ‘no’ to sex, it’s just the principle of the thing. You’re used to him giving you what you want…”
“Thanks a lot, Jiminy,” Danny drawled out, scowling a little at the thought, “So why do I still care? I mean… we talked about the whole thing. It should be good now.”
“First of all, that wasn’t a moral judgement, so that doesn’t make me your conscience. But, if we’re going to bring it up, I am far more qualified to be one than a cricket – who was horrible at his job to begin with, I might add! – and, my dear Danny, you don’t actually need me to explain to you why you still care, because you already know. You just don’t want to admit just how much you still crave his approval because that’s scary.”
“And you say you’d a better conscience than Jiminy…”
“I would be! Have you even watched that movie? Jiminy was promoted to conscience simply by being at the right place and the right time. Also? I’m right. You just need to listen to me better.”
“I don’t have anything to prove to him.”
“And you are absolutely right, now you just got to believe that.”
Danny started singing When You Wish Upon a Star in response, mumbling over the words that he didn’t know, laughing at Shane’s glare in his direction all the while. The song dissolved into a mess of giggles and Danny curled up on his side, staring off into space for a minute before he pressed his lips together in a tight line.
“You think he’s dating that guy who keeps popping up in his feed?”
“Oh, totally. They are definitely fucking…” Shane tilted his head tapping his fingers against the arm of the chair. “You okay with that?”
“Honestly?” Danny hummed and pressed his fingers to his lip, a ghost of a smile dancing there before he turned back to Shane. “I really am. I mean… good for him, you know?” He waited a moment to see if that bitterness moved from his chest to bleed into what he was saying. There was a slight sense of relief when it didn’t. “Hey… if he can find someone, there’s hope for me, right?”
“There’s hope for us all!” Shane held his arms out wide in a dramatic gesture before grinning and settling back into his seat with a wistful sigh, crinkling his nose a little at nothing in particular. “Is it bad taste to start a betting pool on how long this is going to last?”
“Yup. How much do you have in it?”
“Ten.”
“Twenty.”
“High roller.”
“Let Courtney make out with me on camera in a hot tub and you could be too.”
Shane snorted before he reached over to search for his drink. “Is that your master plan? Peddle thinly veiled soft core lesbian porn as a music video for popularity?”
Danny grinned a bit, “Why not? It worked for Britney and Madonna,” he quipped before he crawled over to the side of the couch that was closer to where Shane was sitting, eyes wide and pout ready. “And it’ll only work if you say ye~es…” He cocked his head to the side and offered a wide grin, “ Come on, You know you want to be a skank with me.”
Shane tapped his chin with a thoughtful expression and his eyes twinkled with mischief before he hummed, “Is it going to be tasteful?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then I’m in!”
–––––––––––––––––––––
The first text Danny got from Roy was about a week after Jump the Gun made its debut on Youtube, and he was about 90% sure that it wasn’t meant for him.
I’m fucking you so hard when I get there, you asshole.
Maybe 98%. Either way, he was not about to let the opportunity to give Roy shit for something pass, so he carefully considered his response before finally typing out,
Wow. Promise? Let me buy a ticket real quick and I’ll meet you.
There was a predictably long pause and Danny continued to check his phone periodically for the inevitable response. He was getting caught up in a vortex of Youtube hell when his phone finally buzzed beside him. He smirked at the reply.
That wasn’t for you.
Simplistic, definitive, and without further explanation – classic and in no way acceptable. He knew Roy knew it too, because there was a long sigh when Roy answered the follow-up phone call.
“You could have just texted me.”
“And miss hearing your sex voice? No chance in hell,” Danny grinned at the cracks in Roy’s softer than normal words, “Is he still there?”
“No. He just left.”
“Damn. No cuddle clause in your dating arrangements either?”
“Fuck off, we both have work in the morning,” the finality in his voice meant that Danny would have to try a lot harder than usual to pry anything further from him on that particular subject, so he opted not to try tonight. Instead, he let Roy take the lead. “So what’d you need?”
“Nothing, really,” Danny admitted, “Just needed to give you shit. Why does he get dirty text messages and not me?”
“We’re dating.”
“Rude. Does he get all your best dick pics too?” Danny laughed at the repeated ‘fuck off’ before he set his laptop aside to pick at the pilling on his sheets like some nervous school girl. He chewed on his lip before he finally spoke up again, “You know… I kind of missed hearing from you,” he managed. That bitter feeling, the one he’d been toting since he got back home, began to squirm a little, making his heart jump a few times. There was a pause and Danny waited anxiously for some kind of response to fill in the silent spaces. There was an uplifting hitch in the sigh that followed – a kind of half formed chuckle let out in a breath.
“Yeah,” he croaked before clearing his throat, “Shut up,” he remarked, cutting off Danny’s snickering, “Things kind of got… serious. Sorry.”
Danny bit back the snarky ‘no shit’ and kept the flippant ‘I figured’ from rolling off his tongue. Instead, he replied with a blissful, “Don’t be. You actually look happy.”
“And what about you?”
“Me? I’m…” A small smile started to curl as Danny pressed his lips together. He could feel his cheeks burn, which was a bit absurd, but no one was around to see it so he didn’t really care. “Can I get back to you on that?” His voice had pitched higher towards the end and he felt a bit giddy.
“Mmmhm… yeah, sure. Just enjoy yourself, kid.”
“Oh gross, don’t do that. It makes you sound old.”
The serenity broke with a cackle and Danny could hear the smile through the phone, “Fucking bitch.”
They chatted lightly before the conversation slowly petered out and left them with nothing left than to say ‘goodbye’. When they hung up, Danny shifted a few time, pressing his fingers just below his sternum to settle the butterflies that began to rustle around in his gut as he stared at his phone and opened up a freshly saved contact from the other night.
–––––––––––––––––––––
It was easy to talk to Roy when everything was fine. They didn’t talk everyday (they didn’t have time) but when they did it was nice. It was normal.
When things became decidedly less fine and then spiraled down into absolutely miserable for Danny, talking to Roy wasn’t easy anymore. In fact, Danny found it downright agonizing. That leftover bit of bitterness that held onto his chest for months – the one that didn’t grow or begin to bite, just sat there benign but incredibly present – felt like it had lumped and hardened. He’d stopped following him on social media. Just for now. So it wouldn’t get worse and turn to jealousy as he saw Roy still be happy.
Hey, are you okay?
Danny hadn’t replied for fear of lying – or worse, telling the absolute truth and having Roy try desperately to turn it into a joke to make him smile. Instead, he clung to Shane in some kind of blind desperation to stay emotionally afloat. So far, it was allowed and led to Danny, curled up pathetically on Shane’s couch, consistently losing track of the drink that he never put down to begin with.
But Shane was beginning to start to grow a little weary from playing babysitter as he watched his friend stumble from the casual drinking, into the deeper the pits of alcoholism and whatever else Danny was finding comfort in these days. Don’t judge, he reminded himself, you’re not his moral compass. This had become his mantra whenever they spent time together.
He nudged Danny with his foot to see if he’d passed out yet. There was a drowsy ‘mmmm?’ in response.
“You know, he’s been asking me about you. He almost seems worried. It’s… weird.”
“Who?” Danny muttered as he tried to blink himself into some kind of semblance of consciousness.
“Your long distance husband.”
“Ugh…” He would have rolled his eyes if the thought of it hadn’t made him feel dizzy. “Shut up… we never acted married.”
“By whose definition?” Shane challenged. It wasn’t fair. Danny was at least six drinks ahead of Shane, which made it harder for him to argue. He settled on a weak ‘we didn’t’ as he tried to throw a decorative pillow at Shane and missed. Shane stared at the offending pillow for a minute before picking it up and holding it to his chest, looking thoughtful as he replied, “Well I would say ‘dad’… but given your history, that’s a bit gross.”
Danny erupted in what was probably his first giggle fit of the evening as he scrunched up his face and exclaimed a long, drawn out ‘ewwww’ and Shane replied in kind with a grimace, “Though I suppose making the comparison of spouse and parent similar is concerning within itself….”
“Oh my god, shut up…” Danny groaned as Shane quipped something about if Roy were there, he’d make a joke about it being kinky. He mimed gagging before waving his arms to try to get Shane to cease talking. “Ugh! No! All of that! No to all fucking that!” Danny flopped back and pressed his palms into his eyes, thinking the conversation was over before it was finally placed back on the tracks it’d derailed from when Shane quietly asked,
“So what do I tell him?”
“Huh?” Danny squinted a little as he tried to remember what they were talking about before he sighed heavily and rolled his eyes up towards the ceiling, “Oh… right… fuck.” He wiped his hand across his eyes before waving the whole thing off. “I’m fine.”
With a quiet, ‘right, okay’, Shane let the subject drop. His hands fidgeted for a moment before he finally picked up his phone, the wheels turning in his head a fraction slower, but still enough for him to start a plan.
I think I’m going to need your help soon.
He hit send and waited, tapping short nails on the back of his phone as he watched Danny just curl up on himself, trying to cocoon into his jacket without much luck. The minutes rolled by before finally, there was a reply.
Until the Flavor’s Gone (11/?) (Biadore) - Kitschy Pixel
A/N: I’m alive! Have you missed me?
In this chapter, Shane arrives to save the day and have a much needed conversation with Roy, while Danny gets some good news.
Warnings for the usual crude language, sex talk, and a shit ton of flirting.
Chapter 11
Danny was unsurprised to waking up alone in Roy’s hotel room with a hastily written note about getting breakfast. He weighed his options as he blindly felt around for his phone, only to come up with nothing. ”Right…”
He laid in bed and processed everything he was currently feeling - pissed he was phoneless, tired from the severe lack of sleep, a bit dirty but satisfyingly so for the obvious reason, and maybe a bit empty for a reason he hadn’t quite been able to pin down yet. He felt too groggy to untangle everything, so the knock on the door that broke his multiple chains of thoughts wasn’t entirely unwelcome.
Deciding to forgo answering the door wearing a cum stained t-shirt (as tempting as it was), Danny opted just to pull his jeans on from last night and answer the door with a bit of dignity. He expected housekeeping. Instead, he got Shane.
“I come bearing gifts,” the Aussie grinned before handing over a clean change of clothes. Danny grunted his thanks before allowing Shane to follow him inside, to which the chipper, bright eyed morning(ish) person whistled. “Who is he fucking to afford this?”
“Right!? That was my first question!” He whipped around as he pulled on the clean shirt, which barely hit his upper thighs and he shed his jeans again to change into the fresh pair Shane gave him. There wasn’t a lot of modesty between the two of them anymore, having shared one too many dressing rooms with one another (and many others). He spun around as Shane ‘ahem’ed for his attention, blinking wide eyed for a moment as the other held up his cell phone. “Shit… Shit!” He cracked a wide smile and grabbed at it, trying to turn it on. Of course, it was dead, but Shane (of course) had the charger with him, “Where the fuck was it?”
“Which story would you like? The one where I tracked down your late night trade using my savvy detective skills or the one where you left it when you decided you didn’t need a jacket?”
“Shit!” Danny laughed at his own idiocy, running a hand through his hair before he puffed up his cheeks and let out a long sigh and tried to find a working outlet. “God, I’m a dumb ass…” he slumped down onto the bed and stared down at the little battery icon lit up his screen. “So let me guess – Roy told you I was missing my phone.”
“He messaged me at some god awful hour this morning to say you lost it. I decided to give it a ring and with its last dying gasps it informed me that it was near the door, the little trooper,” Shane dropped down next to Danny and offered him a grin. “He also messaged me to say you were going to need a change of clothes.”
“And you’re a fucking lifesaver because my shirt is a wreck.”
“I’m afraid to ask.”
“I could show you.”
“I’ll pass.”
They sat in silence, the metaphorical elephant in the room staring back at them, just waiting to be addressed. Danny, surprisingly, was the first to crack, sighing heavily and leaning his head onto Shane’s shoulder, “I’m a fucking idiot, aren’t I?”
“Only if you actually thought that this wasn’t going to happen.”
“I kind of did.”
“Then you’re a fucking idiot.”
Danny flicked Shane in the shoulder, an over exaggerated pout on his lips as he tried to invite the other’s pity, “I was doing really good!”
“You were not,” Shane laughed when Danny shoved him. Before he could respond, Danny’s phone buzzed back to life. It was still for a moment before lighting up, various notifications from apps to text messages conflicting with one another as they all poured in at once. They both watch as it danced across the duvet, before finally quieting down again. Danny had the decency to let it rest for a minute before he picked it back up and started scrolling through it.
“Jesus Christ…” he muttered under his breath as he leaned against Shane, “You would have thought I’d fucking died and came back a week later… shit, that guy from last night saved my number.”
“You passed up another guy to end up back in bed with Bianca?”
“Okay, yes,” Danny held up a finger, “But before you start,” he shoved his phone under Shane’s nose, “Look.”
Shane took the phone and wrinkled his nose as he fought the disgust with a forced smile. “It’s… not awful?” Danny just stared back, face contorted in disbelief before Shane finally cracked, “It’s tragic…” he tilted the screen this way and that before drawing his lips down in a cringe, as Danny hissed an agreement, “Truly… it is.”
“It’s worse in person,” Danny laughed as Shane shuddered and stuck out his tongue, “So, in my defense… can you blame me?” He went back to his task, shooting out texts to the people he actually cared about, whether it be just a quick ‘I’m okay’ or a placating emoji, and talking all the while. “I was worked up and horny as fuck, with access to decent dick,” he grinned at Shane’s inquisitive ‘so?’
They settled on the mussed up bed, side by side, Danny made a show of contemplating how many details he wanted to divulge, “It wasn’t amazing or anything,” he admitted. “But it definitely did the trick. I accidentally might have given him a black eye, but it was kind of his own fault so I don’t take all the blame…”
Shane quirked an eyebrow, tapping on his lips in thought before favoring a different line of questioning all together, “Black eye aside, does this mean you’re done trying abstain from… whatever it is… you two seem to have going?”
Danny shrugged a shoulder, “I guess.”
Their conversation was cut short by the electronic click of a hotel door unlocking. Shane and Danny acted fast, tangling up together in a sultry embrace. Shane’s legs wrapped around Danny’s waist as they fell together, Danny burying his face in Shane’s neck to try to keep himself from bursting out in a fit of giggles as he heard Roy round the corner.
There was a soft ‘crunch’ of a paper bag hitting the bed and a long, loud sigh. “Unbelievable,” Roy remarked, “Literally. How’s this supposed to work?” He gestured between the two of them before Danny lifted his head, gasping in offense.
“What are you implying?” Danny pushed himself up to his knees as Roy lifted an eyebrow, “It’s the twenty-first century man, you gotta show some versatility!”
“Speak for yourself,” Roy remarked as he sipped at the coffee in his hand.
Danny started to rifle through the bag of bagels, offering one to Shane, who declined it in favor of asking, “Which poses the interesting question – when was the last time you bottomed?”
If Roy’d been caught off guard by the question, he did a good job at catching the spit take of his coffee by swallowing it too quickly instead. Danny perked at his reaction, jaw dropping as he echoed Shane’s question, “Oh! Right! Because like… how do you know your preference if you haven’t tried it both ways? Right?”
Shane vocalized his agreement, which Roy – naturally – disagreed with.
“I don’t have to jump off a cliff to know that it could kill me–”
“–but bottoming won’t kill you, so that’s not really a good comparison.”
Roy stared back at Shane, tilting his head slightly to the side with a whisper of a smirk. “Okay,” his voice raised half an octave as he decided to take the challenge head on, “If that’s your argument, when was the last time you topped?” he shot back to Shane, who balked a little. Roy cackled in triumph and pointed, “See?”
“We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about the frankly rigid way you approach your sex life.”
“Is that what we’re doing?”
Danny scoffed loudly and threw a pillow at Roy’s smug face, and missed, “Stop stalling and tell us the last time you took a dick up the ass!” Roy snickered as the pillow hit the wall just to the left of his shoulder. He could only shake his head in response. Danny shook his head back. “What’s this? What’s this? Are you trying to convince us that you have never ever bottomed ever in your million years of life on this planet?”
“I’m thirty-seven you fucking prick, and this,” he pointed to his face, “is not convincing. This is me telling you the truth.”
Shane held up a hand, “I agree that it’s not convincing. The truth part? Not so much. You’re too defensive about it.” He finally crawled to the bag of bagels and started to fish one out for himself. “Fess up!”
Roy rolled his eyes and sighed heavily, tilting his head back in thought before he finally lifted his hands in surrender. “Fine. I once had to make a compromise with a guy who I thought could have been the love of my life. Happy?”
Danny squinted and shook his head, “No. Because now you are definitely lying.”
“Your phone is buzzing.”
“Shit!” Danny grabbed it and hung up on whoever was trying to call. “You’re lucky I have to go. This conversation isn’t over. You!” He pointed to Shane, “Let’s be lesbians again, soon.”
Shane leaned in and licked Danny’s cheek with a playful grin, “It’s been a pleasure scissoring with you.”
Roy pulled a face and muttered ‘gross’ before he retreated to the bathroom to dump out the rest of his now cold coffee. He caught Danny lingering at the open door from the corner of his eye. He wasn’t at all surprised by the hug, the way Danny slouched to nuzzle his shoulder, or the light peck on the cheek. Even the quiet ‘thank you’ in his ear was, in some way, expected. It all felt so well practiced and predictable, but he smiled none the less, one arm draped around Danny’s waist, and asked.
“For what?”
Danny shrugged and didn’t give a verbal answer, but the way he bit his lip spoke volumes. He pressed a parting kiss to Roy’s temple and left with a sing-song goodbye and a laugh.
He turned to find Shane standing in the doorway with his arms crossed and a Knowing Look – that didn’t surprise him either. Instead he pressed his lips together, placed a hand on his hip and waved the oncoming questions forward.
“Alright. What do you want from me?”
“Real answer to the previously posed question.”
“No.”
“Fine. Then tell me what’s going on between you and Dan – don’t shurg and smile like that!” Shane made a show at rolling his eyes. “I’m trying to have a serious and adult conversation about your sex life!” He took a step to block Roy from exiting the bathroom before stepping out of the way not even half a moment later.
“Is that so? And how is my sex life – or Danny’s, for that matter – any of your business?”
“I’m just a friend trying to look out for you two. Call me a different perspective.”
“I’d call you a nosy cunt.”
Shane held up a finger, “Tsk tsk! You used that one already. If you’re not careful, your conversations will start repeating like your act.”
“Stop revisiting the same tired topics and maybe I wouldn’t have to repeat myself.”
They both exchanged glares which melted into amusement and Roy smirked again as he picked up the paper bag from the bedsheets and tossed it over onto the desk. “I’ll tell you what I told him,” Roy remarked as he sat down on the edge of the bed. “He’s charming, attractive, and asks me to fuck him. What am I going to do? Say no?”
Shane flopped beside him, “That’s right,” he tilted his chin up, pensive, “I forgot. You’re a slag.”
Roy snorted with another smirk, “I’m an opportunist.”
“Oh, excuse me. I stand corrected,” Shane poked Roy’s cheek, “A lazy slag.”
“Look who’s talking.”
“I’m honest about it. You should try it – it’s quite freeing,” Shane lifted his hands in a jazzy gesture before he turned to face Roy and lean his chin on the other man’s shoulder, “But that level of honesty is a bit too vulnerable for you, right?”
Roy shrugged him off with a sigh, “Knock it off.”
“You haven’t told him why you’re here, have you?”
“Nope,” The ‘p’ sound popped a bit as Roy began to search for anything else to do. The silence between the two long time friends stretched until Shane jabbed Roy in the ribs. With an annoyed grunt, he simply accepted that Shane wasn’t as easily distracted, nor was he going to let the subject drop until everything was fully discussed to his approval. “Fine. No. He has his own career to worry about, I’m not going to fill him with false hopes about mine.”
“You’re so generous,” Shane rolled his eyes and leaned back on his hands, “So, you’re happy in New York with your dream job. Drag and comedy is just something to pay the bills. That’s what you always told me,” Shane paused and Roy just waved him on, letting him finish, “So why the change in heart? Why come all the way out here to chase a dream you never said you had?”
“Told you. I’m an opportunist.”
“Whore in bed and whore in life.”
“There you go.”
–––––––––––––––––––––
Roy needed more, better, and stronger coffee if he was going to be expected to get through the day. Shane walked with him after getting a recommendation for a coffee shop from the hotel staff. Their conversation was picked back up a few steps out of the hotel.
“So, is it really just sex?”
“Weren’t you just lecturing me on the rigid way I approach my sex life?” Roy mused, tapping his lips with the tips of his fingers.
“Shut up,” Shane flicked Roy’s shoulder and earned a smirk. “I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing – and do not make that into a dirty joke. I’m being serious right now.”
Roy offered a shrug, “He’s the one who suggested being friends with benefits. If he gets too clingy…”
Shane held up a finger to cut off Roy’s sentence and shook his head, “Hold up. He’s not the only one I worry about.”
“What do you… are you suggesting that I can’t handle casual sex among friends?”
“B – and I mean this in the… most respectful of ways possible – nothing about you, whether it be sex, romance, or friendship could ever be described as casual,” Shane seemed to make a point at using air quotations abundantly to put extra emphasis on his point (the gesture around ‘respectful’ gave Roy pause). He lightly shoved Roy for the affronted expression on his face, dismissing his shocked gasp with a flick of his wrist. “It’s true! You are the very definition of – I believe the proper term is attention whore,” He drawled out the syllables of ‘attention’ before punctuating his sentence with a ‘pop’, just to watch Roy cringe. “It’s simultaneously enchanting and self-sabotaging, which must make you exhausted.”
“I can handle casual sex.”
“You can handle one night stands – don’t give me that look! – this is different level stuff. When have you ever had sex with one of your friends and it not end up in a relationship? And! Bonus question – when has it ever ended well?”
“Is this your way of saying you don’t think Danny and I could date?”
“It’s my way of saying that I don’t think you think that you and Danny could date.”
“Where the fuck are you getting all of this?”
“You always question me.”
“Oh right, I forgot that you’re some kind of omniscient miracle.”
“Ignoring the sarcasm, that’s the smartest thing you’ve ever said. Good use of the word ‘omniscient’ too.” Shane reached out and caught Roy by the elbow at the door of the coffee shop, pausing for half a beat before finally asking, “Do you think you and Danny could date?”
Roy stared back at Shane, pressing his lips together as he seemed to give the question real thought for the first time ever since this whole thing began. With a long sigh and a moment of averting eye contact, he looked back to Shane’s imploring face before finally replying with a curt ‘no’ and reaching out to open the door. Shane reached out and pressed a hand against it to keep Roy from running away from the conversation.
“Then what are you doing?”
Roy flashed a smile, “Nothing I can’t handle.”
“You really think you can charm yourself out of giving a real answer, don’t you?”
“Yup.”
–––––––––––––––––––––
Shane was sipping tea and chatting with Roy in the kitchen when Danny burst in. Immediately, he curled himself around Shane, grinning with a high pitched squeal before he broke away to hop around excitedly. “What’s happening? What’d I miss?”
“Morgan pulled some strings and I’m singing live next week!”
“Holy…” Shane joined Danny in the celebratory jumping, before their energy petered out to sorority girl giggling. Roy watched on in amusement before getting roped into a group hug that had Danny at the center. “This is such great news! What made her decide to do that?”
“She found out about that disaster of a meeting and called to ask me what I had planned. Fucking bitch decided if those fucking assholes don’t want a drag queen rock star, she’d do what she could to help. I mean, it’s not like… an album deal or anything but shit… I’ll take it!”
“Taking your career into your own hands! I love it,” Shane beamed before tilting his head, “You know, I could get a guy to record your performance. We could upload it on Youtube…”
“You think people would even watch it?”
“It’s entirely plausible. I mean, even Bianca’s reel has views on Youtube.”
“Even Bianca’s? Even…? Fuck you, cunt. I’m at least steadily employed.”
“I see you’ve been letting your facial hair grow out.”
“Fuck you, twice. I’m on vacation.”
Danny clapped his hands loudly, “Hey! Hey hey hey! Let’s not lose focus on what’s important right now!” He took a few steps back, lifted his hands over his head and struck a pose. “Me!”
“Yes! You’re right!” Shane pressed his palms together as he spun around his kitchen to try to regain his bearings, “We need to celebrate. It’s what? A little past noon? I don’t have champagne… but I have some wine. Is it too early for wine?”
“Just pour the wine.”
Danny quickly intersected Roy and Shane and offered a bright smile before the exchanging of barbs relating to alcoholism could fully get off the ground. “Remember, this is about me. Don’t lose focus.”
The wine was poured and a toast was made to Danny’s success, with a promise for a more elaborate and formal toast once he finally made his big break. They clinked their glasses and began to drink until the bottle was gone.
Which meant that Shane was curled up in his armchair, slightly tipsy, while Danny and Roy shared the couch – barely buzzed and still mostly sober, respectfully. Danny turned his head and reached out, brushing the back of his fingers against Roy’s jaw before he smiled. “You know this looks kind of hot?”
“Don’t get too used to it. It’s gone almost the minute I get back home.”
“You work too much.”
“So you tell me.” He sighed as he stared at the bottom of his empty glass until Danny pried it from his fingers.
“You don’t need to get wasted at one in the afternoon.”
“Then how I am I suppose to tolerate both of you assholes?” The smile took the bite off the remark and Roy shifted to accommodate Danny’s body as he slid up to his side. He wrapped an arm around him and sighed before leaning his head back and shooting a look at the barely conscious Shane across from them. “Shouldn’t you be cuddling with your girlfriend?” he whispered into Danny’s hair, chuckling as Shane lifted a lazy hand to wave.
“Mmm… you’re closer. Besides, she won’t mind,” Danny smiled as he curled up and made himself comfortable, his back pressing against Roy’s side and tangling their fingers together. “Is it too much to wish you weren’t going back to New York?”
Until the Flavor's Gone (8/?) (Biadore) - Kitschy Pixel
A/N: Hi guys! Sorry for the delay in updates. I ended up getting distracted so I didn’t do any writing the week before last, and then this chapter decided to get tricky on me. Heads up though, I will be starting a new job soon that has a more varied schedule than what I have now, so updates might be less frequent until I can get into the groove of the whole thing.
In this chapter, Danny and Shane have a talk, we get a bit more background on Shane and Roy’s friendship, and Danny and Roy have to say goodbye – for now.
Usual language warnings apply, with added implied past potential Bitney (but not exactly?), and very casual, adult conversations about relationships without jealousy (no really - it’s true!).
Chapter Eight
With a lot of difficulty, and after every single excuse had been exhausted, Roy finally managed to leave the hotel room with the promise that they would have dinner later that night (which he had every intention to keep). He trotted down the hotel hallway wearing yesterday’s clothes, sunglasses, and a smile when he, quite predictably, crossed paths with a returning Shane.
“Nice sex hair,” Shane grinned, reaching out to ruffle it even more.
Roy just smirked and gestured to the rather unique way the blonde’s hair stuck out in an odd manner before remarking “I could say the same for you.”
Shane offered no commentary on his own evening aside from a shrug and smile before he tilted his head, “So where are you creeping off to? Figured you’d have a bit more ‘catching up’ to do.” Shane’s exaggerated use of air quotes earned him an eye roll that he couldn’t see but could still sense.
“Sadly, I have to recover. And get a fresh pair of clothes before meeting up with some people.”
“May I suggest something to cover up all this?” Shane circled Roy once, waving his hand towards the number of hickeys and scratch marks that marred the other man’s neck and shoulders as he let out a low whistle. “You look like you got mauled.”
“And I’m thrilled. Here…” he held up the keycard he’d nicked from Danny’s jacket pocket before he’d left. He held it just out of Shane’s reach for a moment before adding, “Be nice to him.”
“I’m always nice to him and I’m insulted that you’d insinuate otherwise.”
Roy handed him the keycard and repeated, sincerely, “Be nice to him.”
“Of course.” Shane tapped the keycard to his chin as he offered up another wide smile, “I really do like this look on you.”
“Shut up.”
–––––––––––––––––––––
Danny whined from under the covers when Shane toppled on top of him.
“Oh this looks like such a comfy spot, I think I’ll sleep right here!”
“Get off me!” Danny groaned into the pillow, upsetting Shane from his place when he rolled over to the side. He glared at that beaming face and that chipper ‘morning, princess’ before snarling, “I hate you.”
“Strong words from someone who’s had their brains thoroughly fucked. Are you going to just lie naked in bed all day?”
“Yes.”
“Wrong answer. Up up up!” Danny fought for the duvet as Shane attempted to drag it off of him, until he ended up curled up at the foot of the bed with it wrapped around his waist and still glaring murder.
“I really fucking hate you.”
“Liar,” Shane grinned and shoved his wardrobe off the armchair and onto the floor so he could sit down, cross legged, with his fingers interlocked, and putting on his best look of judgement. Danny ignored him, keeping the duvet clutched around his waist as he rifled around the mess of clothing on the floor for something that was his. When he didn’t offer any kind of conversation, Shane got fidgety. “Come on, can you at least tell me if it was good or not?”
“It was great,” Danny remarked, albeit on the distracted side, “We made-out, fucked… he gives great head… aha!” he held up the shirt that Roy had stripped off him hours earlier in triumph before pulling it on. “I missed pretty much all of Mardi Gras, but …” he trailed before shooting Shane a genuine smile. “Thanks.”
Shane shrugged and beamed another bright smile, obviously proud of himself. “I do what I can.” Danny nodded, pushing his bangs from his face as he wandered to his bag to pull out a fresh pair of pants. The silence seemed to buzz with unspoken questions before finally, Danny spoke up.
“Why do you care?” Danny paused as he looked at his pants. “Hold on, I need to fucking shower. This conversation is to be continued!”
Shane had his answer ready by the time Danny emerged from the bathroom – damp hair and fresh clothes – and plopped himself back down at the foot of the bed, grabbing a directory for nearby places that delivered as he muttered that he was starving.
“I told you before that I wasn’t kidding that he liked you, and that hasn’t changed.”
“So you dragged my ass out on a three day road trip just for us to hook-up?”
“Call me a romantic!” Shane drawled before he giggled and shrugged, one shouldered this time, “And outrageously curious. Let’s say it was an experiment.”
Danny raised an eyebrow before he slid across the bed onto his stomach, grabbing a nearby pillow and pulling it under his chin. He stared at Shane inquisitively until finally he decided to start at the beginning, “So wait, how did you and Roy meet, again?”
“B… well, Roy… was helping out on this tiny production that I was in a few years ago. He knew people who knew the same people that knew people that I knew… kind of a chain of association thing. I guess he owed a favor to someone, so he agreed to head the costume department… which was essentially just him and anyone else he could teach to sew a straight line. So mostly him…” Shane waved it all off, “Anyway, that’s how we know each other.”
“And you ended up with his number…” Danny added. He was curious as to who Shane knew to even be cast in anything in New York and exactly how he knew them, but he needed to stay on one topic at a time. He perked a bit and his lips curled mischievously, “Did you two fuck or something?”
“Oh, God no…” Shane huffed out a sigh and held up a finger, “Okay, don’t… that didn’t come out right. I’m not going to deny that there was… maybe a bit of a spark that… led to a little bit of very light flirting… but Bianca is nothing but a professional and acted as such.”
“Meaning you wanted to, but never got the chance.”
“Basically,” Shane noticeably drooped. “Both of our schedules were incredibly hectic,” he paused for a beat as he seemed to suddenly recall an added bit of vital information, “And he was in the midst of a very complicated situation with an ex.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah,” Shane’s face twisted in a grimace at the memory before he shook his head, “But it turned out to be for the best. At the time, I wasn’t planning to move to the States, he had a schedule busier than the one he has now, and as I mentioned before – complicated situation with his ex, which he never gave me details on so don’t even try asking.”
Danny nodded in understanding before he tilted his head, “So then why exchange numbers?”
“Oh, well, that didn’t actually happen until after I moved and got a new phone. We reconnected when he was visiting LA for… I can’t even remember what. Still cute, still a charming asshole, and this time with a steadier schedule of employment and completely single…”
“And you didn’t jump him?”
“No. Something had worn off by the time we met again and we just… ended up friends. But who knows? If we had ended up sharing a night of unbridled passion that first time around? I could have it as bad as you.” He over extended his arm and leaned forward to poke Danny on the nose with a light ‘boop’. Danny snapped at it playfully in response and tilted his head.
“So you’re living vicariously through me.”
“Oh, exactly,” Shane placed the back of his hand on his forehead in a dramatic fainting pose, “Reminiscing about the ‘one who got away’.” He snorted and shook his head as he snatched the list of restaurants from where it laid abandoned on the bed. “Nice use of the word ‘vicariously’ though…” He perused the options before they both managed to decide on something and got out his phone to make the order. “We were just worried about you, that’s all. And yeah, maybe it was a bit of an extreme measure but it was fun, so why the hell not?”
“It was just a dry spell. It’s not like I ran off to a convent and took a vow of celibacy.”
“Dry spell of your own making. I mean, I don’t expect you to jump into the arms of every guy who takes an interest in you but come on, Danny… we all saw you favoring your phone over a cute guy trying to flirt with you…”
Danny wanted to argue, wanted to say how untrue that was, wanted to make a huge scene about how wrong Shane (and everyone else) was – but rolling back through (what he could remember of) the last nine months he realized what little ground he could stand on was slipping out from beneath his feet like rapidly moving sand. So he stayed silent, only speaking up with his order, until Shane was off the phone and finally asked the question of the morning.
“So what are you doing now?”
So far, Danny hadn’t thought past having dinner – something resembling an actual date – but he had a feeling that Shane was searching for a bit of a deeper answer than that. Sadly, he didn’t really have one. He stalled with a shrug, and when that didn’t prove enough, he settled on what he knew.
“We’re having dinner tonight, he leaves tomorrow, and we go back to living on opposite sides of the country, I guess”
“And that’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Shane dramatically (as he did with most things) slumped into the chair with a long ‘why?’ for good measure. Danny, in turn, threw up his hands, “I don’t know what you expect me to do about it, man! I’ve gotta be an adult!”
“Then do the adult thing and don’t let the ‘what-if’ interfere with your actual life.”
Danny’s jaw dropped as he tried to counter with… something. Anything, really. Anything that wasn’t the weird strangled noise he was making right now. He finally managed to land a very cracked “I’m… not…” but the inflection lifted right at the last minute, making it sound like a question.
Shane just stared at Danny, that long lingering stare that said he was trying to break apart each and every piece of what Danny just said – anything Danny had said in the past forty-eight hours, the past week, the past nine months – from sentence to word to syllable, straight down to the core and between each line, before he finally just shrugged, threw up his hands and stood. “Fine. If you want to believe that so hard, then fine. I dragged you out here for some kind of closure so, fuck it.”
“You dragged me out here for a hook-up.”
“No. I dragged you out here because you needed to make a decision – either be with him or not be with him – you’ve made your choice. That’s closure.”
“I’m still going to be friends with him.”
“And I would never say that you shouldn’t be. It’s great. He’s a good friend to have. You can tell him that on this dinner of yours.”
“I plan to.”
“Great.”
Danny and Shane shared a long stare down with each other – Danny on the bed, on his knees, clutching at that pillow and Shane, standing over him and just waiting for everything to click into place.
“You don’t believe me!”
“Not a fucking word!”
–––––––––––––––––––––
Danny’s pre-lunch conversation with Shane weighed on his mind, all the way up to his dinner with Roy, even after the other man had arrived to walk him to their destination. The small talk was sparse, Danny’s eyes trailing to nothing as he spaced out. A nudge to his shoulder brought him back to the present, making him blink and look back to Roy with a weak smile.
“You gonna talk?”
“Sorry.”
“Mmm,” Roy hummed and nodded, “We’re both avoiding the inevitable, aren’t we?” When Danny didn’t immediately answer, Roy shoved his hands in his pockets, slowed his pace and proceeded to drive the conversation that neither of them really wanted to have out loud. “We’re going to have to have this talk, we can’t just keep putting it off.”
Danny sucked in a breath and nodded in agreement before they both stopped and moved off to the side. They leaned up against a wall, Roy with his shoulders back and hands in his pockets and Danny hunched forward with his arms crossed over his mid-section. They waited again, stalling for minutes, until it all cracked and everything Danny had been churning in his head fell from his mouth before he could start re-thinking it all for the millionth time.
“Okay… so first off, I want to just let you know that sex with you is so good…” he whined, earning him a laugh that helped thin out the tension that the silence had built up between them. He paused for another beat, hoping to slow his thundering heart before it burst and squeezed through his ears. “But not just that… I’ve really grown to like you… and…” He sniffed once, dropping his hand to his thigh, picking at the loose threads of the distressing on his jeans before he swallowed past the lump in his throat and shot a look to Roy, “… this just sucks.”
Roy nodded in agreement before he reached out and twined their fingers together, pulling Danny to him and wrapping his other arm around his shoulders, pressing his palm against the back of Danny’s neck. Danny curled into the hug, pressing his face to Roy’s shoulder and just taking in the smell of him. The warmth, the comfort, it helped him push forward.
“I don’t know what I want from you,” he whispered into Roy’s skin, feeling him nod in response. “And I can’t figure it out when you’re two-fucking-thousand miles away.”
Roy didn’t speak until their hug broke apart, Danny taking a step back and running his fingers across his eyes because he was definitely not crying. They fell back into their original positions, leaning against that wall as Roy conceded.
“I have a feeling this dinner we’ve planned isn’t going to do us a lot of favors…” he began before he got out his phone, mostly for something to fiddle with. He sucked in a breath, exhaled, before sucking in a second, holding it, and then breathing out slowly. “Sex with you isn’t so bad, either,” he smiled at Danny’s flat ‘gee thanks’. “And maybe it’s okay that you can’t figure out what you want from… what’s going on between us right now…” He gestured with his index finger between the two of them before unlocking his phone. “Because I really don’t know if I could… even offer much of anything, right now.”
Danny nodded in understanding before balling his hands into fists, “We’re saying goodbye, aren’t we?”
“Yeah, we kind of are.”
“Texting still okay? I mean, as friends?”
Roy chuckled as he tilted his head, “Yeah, of course. You can always text or call me, you should know that by now. That offer still stands.”
Their hands came together again, squeezed, and then released. Roy asked Danny if he needed company heading back to his hotel. Danny declined. If Roy came back with him, there’d be too much temptation to make him stay.
So instead, they said their goodbyes and parted ways, hearts thrumming as they went separate directions. They walked back to their respective hotels, and locked themselves in for the night. Danny ordered a pizza and wallowed. Roy just tried to go to sleep to save himself the trouble. Both of them kept their phones in hand, contemplating and feeling like they needed to say one last parting word.
Until the Flavor's Gone (7/?) (Biadore) - Kitschy Pixel
A/N: Did you guys know that according to my word processor, this fic (with author’s notes and page breaks for chapters) is almost 50 pages long? True story.
In this chapter, we forget about the slow burn temporarily and bask in proper afterglow otherwise known as “Kitschy is being nice and giving you almost an entire chapter of Biadore in bed nakedness”. You’re welcome. Temporarily. Don’t trust me.
Language warnings still apply, with written depictions of nudity, references to smut, and grotesque sweetness. Written with “That’s So Us” by Allie X stuck in my head.
Chapter 7
Danny didn’t so much ‘wake up’ tangled in sheets and blankets next to Roy, so much as he regained coherency. Waking up implied that they’d been sleeping and they most definitely hadn’t been sleeping twenty minutes ago.
He cleared his throat, but it didn’t help the coarseness of his voice as he whispered into Roy’s shoulder, “Is this the New Orleans experience you were talking about?”
Roy snickered and shook his head, “No. If I did that properly, I would have fucked you in an alley behind a dumpster.”
“Romantic.”
“I was raised a classy gentleman.”
Danny closed his eyes and revelled a little as Roy’s arms snaked around him and the older man pressed a kiss to his hair. So far, the omnipresent ‘I missed you’ that hung over them both remained unspoken, but they were very aware of it, and Danny was definitely feeling it. He bit his lip and shifted closer, his fingers absent-mindedly tracing nonsensical patterns across Roy’s chest. And they stayed like that, quiet and still, until finally the noise outside piqued Danny’s interest.
“This was supposed to be my first Mardi Gras…” he mused as he slowly started to get up, despite Roy’s protests. “I pretty much missed the whole thing…” He perched on his knees at the edge of the bed and looked over his shoulder. “It’s your fault.”
“My fault?” Roy raised an eyebrow, “Who was practically humping my leg when I got here?”
Danny’s jaw dropped as he gasped in shock, “I was not, you asshole! You kissed me first!”
“Oh, right. And you were mad about it? Please.” Danny yelped into a fit of giggles as Roy pulled his knees out from under him with a quick tug to his ankle before straddling his back. “Saying you’re horny while grinding your ass on my dick and begging… don’t fucking try to put all the blame on me.” Danny whined in approval as Roy peppered the back of his neck and shoulders before he burst into another set of giggles.
“Honestly, man? It’s been so long, I would have jumped anyone who kissed me like that.” He grinned over his shoulder as Roy’s jaw dropped and he gasped in offense. “But I’m so glad it was you!” He tacked on with his sweetest voice and a few eye flutters for good measure.
“Yeah, sure,” Roy shot back as he pulled a face and rolled off to the side. He craned his neck as Danny started to crawl over him, before dodging those rather plush lips. “You know there’s still time, we can always go down there…”
Danny paused in thought, staring towards the balcony door and watching the lights of the city from behind the curtains. He shook his head as he moulded himself comfortably against Roy’s body, “No… I’m okay…” He dipped his head down and whined when Roy turned his face to the side again, “Let me kiss you!”
“After you told me I could have been anyone and it wouldn’t have mattered? Fuck you. I respect myself too much.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Fine, I don’t.”
Danny stole his kiss, fingers curling in Roy’s hair as the tips of their tongues met. He drew it out for as long as he could, punctuating it with a playful nip and a peck. He settled himself lower, resting his head on Roy’s chest before he closed his eyes as the other man played with his hair. He felt Roy speak more than heard him, drawing him out of his daze. “Hm?”
“Care to say exactly how long is long?” He paused a beat before adding, “Turn that into a dick joke and I will come for you.”
“Think you already did,” Danny smirked as Roy sighed that he set himself up for that. He used the joke to buy some time as he pondered how truthful he wanted to be. So far, straight up lying hadn’t exactly worked for him, and lying by omission was a tricky game to play. He sucked in a breath and folded his fingers over Roy’s sternum before sheepishly answering, “It’s been… a few months.” He rested his chin on the back of his knuckles and relished the feeling of Roy’s nails lightly scratching the back of his neck.
He contemplated asking Roy the same question, but was saved from the decision when Roy’s phone rang.
They both groaned.
“Can you get up and hand me my pants?”
“Can’t you just ignore it?”
“I have been,” Roy lightly nudged Danny’s hip to try to steer him from his very comfortable position. Danny gave one final protesting ‘no’ before he reached over the side of the bed and fished Roy’s phone out of his jeans. Roy sighed, covering his eyes as he answered, not even checking the caller ID. “Hello?”
He snorted at Courtney’s very enthusiastic greeting “Hold on! I need to find some place quiet…”
“Good luck.”
There was obviously a door slam and Roy could hear the echo through the phone – either a bathroom (unlikely) or a stairwell (probably).
“Phew! That’s better. I tried to call you earlier, what the hell?”
Roy pressed his fingers to Danny’s lips as the younger of the two mouthed ‘is that Courtney?’, sending a warning glare at the mischievous spark that lit up his eyes. “I was busy…”
“Really? Doing what?”
“Me!” Danny piped up loud enough for Courtney to hear him. Roy rolled his eyes as he sat up and pressed a palm to his mouth in a rather useless gesture as Danny broke into a fit of giggles.
“Who was…” Courtney trailed before she gasped and squealed excitedly, “You took advantage of my birthday gift! Good for you!”
“It’s your birthday?”
“No. Shut up. Both of you.”
“You didn’t tear that dress did you?”
“No, your fucking dress is fine…” He sighed heavily when Courtney quipped back ‘well it’s certainly a fucking dress now.’ As much as he tried, Roy couldn’t keep up his irritated tone as Danny wrapped his arms around his shoulders and nuzzled his nose into his neck. “So what did you want?”
“I was just checking up on you… seeing what you were up to…”
“Uh huh… so, you planned this whole thing.” Courtney popped out a ‘yup’ and Roy pinched the bridge of his nose. “Of course you did… well, you’re lucky because I’ve just been informed that I could have been anyone – he would have fucked anyone who kissed him – so this whole set up of yours could have been for virtually nothing. Or at least had a very different result.”
“Well, he hasn’t had sex in nine months so I can’t really blame him…”
“Nine…” Roy’s eyebrows shot into his hairline as he craned his neck to look at a slightly panicked Danny. “Nine months? You don’t say…” He didn’t really pay much attention to Courtney’s response as he pulled away from Danny’s grip to watch the younger man squirm nervously. Hunched shoulders, bit lip, averted gaze – oh, busted. “Hey, Court – I need to call you back…” he didn’t wait for Courtney’s reply before he hung up. He tossed his phone to the bed and just stared at Danny in silence, obviously amused and just waiting. Eventually, Danny cracked.
“Okay, see… I can explain…”
“You can, hm? And what are you explaining?”
“I know what this looks like.”
“Enlighten me.”
“I…” Danny held out a finger as he paused, wrinkling his nose as his eyes darted from one thought to another. He perched himself on the edge of the bed, on his knees while facing Roy and looking very ready to flee. Roy just sat on the bed and waited patiently before Danny gave a weak smile, a shrug and then darted to his bag to find some kind of clothing.
Roy sighed as he watched Danny wordlessly pull a long tee shirt over his head as he moved to dangle his legs over the foot of the bed. He reached out and grabbed the younger one by the back of his shirt and pulled him around to face him again, “What are you doing?” he sighed, bumping Danny’s chin with the tips of his fingers so he’d look at him. Those ethereal eyes darted up to meet Roy’s for just a moment before retreating back down.
“It’s just kind of embarrassing…” Danny eventually managed.
“Which part?”
“Which…?” Danny shot his gaze back to Roy’s face before taking his turn to roll his eyes and scoffing, “Oh, shut the fuck up.” A smile ghosted his lips as he let himself be pulled back into Roy’s lap. Arms slid around his waist as he pressed their foreheads for a moment and closed his eyes. “It’s not something I intended,” he admitted quietly. “It just… sort of happened. I got into this… routine… and sex just… sex just wasn’t a part of it.”
“How is that embarrassing?”
“I dunno… it’s just weird to say that I forgot about it… well…” Danny pulled back a bit and squinted at nothing before he sighed again, “That’s not true. I didn’t forget about it… I dunno… it just wasn’t like… the biggest priority, I guess. Am I making sense? Have you ever done that?”
“You’re talking to a guy who works two jobs, six days a week… You really think my sex life is particularly active? There’s nights I can barely get out of drag before passing out…” He tilted his head pensively, fingers crawling up that shirt Danny had thrown on, pushing it up past his hips. “So… again, I’m still curious… how is that embarrassing?”
“Everyone just assumes it’s because of you,” Danny blurted out and then winced when he realized how that sounded, before hastily adding, “And I have a hard time telling them it’s not…” Roy laughed out a ‘why’? And Danny just shrugged before he finally answered, “Because I don’t want them to think that it’s… not you. You know?”
“No…” Roy grunted when Danny overcame his balance and they both tipped back onto the bed. They shifted around to regain their previous position before Roy’s phone had interrupted them.
Once they were settled, Danny spoke up, “So your birthday is…” he trailed a bit, hoping it would prompt Roy to answer.
“Not until June.”
“Really? When?”
“Twenty-seventh.”
Danny’s ‘oh’ was thoughtful and there was another brief pause before he exclaimed with a grin, “So, you’re a Cancer!” Roy erupted into laughter and nodded.
“Yes, breaking news…”
“How didn’t I know this before?”
“I don’t believe it came up.”
“Oh…” Danny wrinkled his nose for a minute, obviously bothered that he didn’t know something so simple as a birthday. “Did I ever tell you mine?”
“I only remember that it’s in September and ~you’re a Libra~” Roy’s little Danny impersonation earned him a light slap onto his shoulder, which he promptly laughed off.
“Asshole.”
“Again, you were the one humping my leg.”
As their laughter subsided, it grew peaceful again. They laid in the dark of that hotel room, with their arms around each other, Danny’s shirt to his armpits as Roy ran his knuckles up and down his spine. Danny began to drift somewhere in between consciousness and sleep, where he floated amongst warmth and content and comfort. He stayed there, suspended in a state of thinking too much and not thinking at all – until finally a thought began to nag at him and worked its way to his voice.
“Can I ask you something?” There was lazy ‘mhmm?’ in reply and Danny shifted to comfortably look at Roy’s face, cast in the festive lights of the city outside that crept into the room from between the hotel curtains. “Why me?”
“Why you what?”
“You know what.”
There was a long sigh as the question seemed to settle on Roy’s mind and those light touches to Danny’s back became a thoughtful drumming of fingers before finally an answer slowly came into focus.
“Well, you impressed me,” he hummed a bit as he seemed to ponder the rest of his thought so he didn’t blurt it out half formed, “Not just with your talent but with just how ballsy you were… I guess I had to find out if you were serious or not.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Danny groaned when Roy answered with a shrug. “Oh, come the fuck on, you can’t tell me you don’t know how fucking sexy you are.”
Roy held up a placating hand, “Look, sometimes I get lucky. But no one is really lining up for the clown in a dress. No one I would really want to sleep with, anyway. Not usually…” He sighed as he shifted to his side, the two laying in the dark, facing each other, Danny pillowing his head with his hand and Roy propping himself up on his elbow. “So when a cute younger guy with a lot of charm makes a bold move and asks me to fuck him? I count my lucky stars and hope to fucking God he’s not pulling my leg.”
Danny hummed in understanding before he leaned in and pecked Roy on the lips. They both lingered there for a moment before pressing another kiss to each other’s mouth and surrendered to a long and languid expression of passion the sent electricity straight to their respective core as tongues dragged against each other and drew out harmonious moans.
It was the kind of kiss that made promises; the kind of kiss that slowed down time and sped up heart rates; the kind of kiss that soothed heartbreak or caused it.
And it was too soon in this whirlwind they were both creating to know exactly where they would fall.
All they knew, as the kiss slowed to a stop, their hands had travelled south. They could only bring themselves to break contact long enough to mutter concerns about condoms and lube as the calm broke, the pressure built, and the frenzy began to settle in.
And all the while, that unspoken sentiment, the one that weighed on both their minds, remained unsaid but spoke volumes to them both. Each touch, each moan, each whimpered expletive, three words were spelled out between them and saturated the sounds of sex.
Until the Flavor's Gone (6/?) (Biadore) - Kitschy Pixel
A/N: Hello! Wow, guys. I’m so super flattered that you all have been hanging on and interested to this fic so far. Especially since this is actually turning into a bit of a slower burn than I intended. I hope you guys don’t mind. I really don’t know if my usual writing standards quite hold up for this chapter (but I thought that with the last chapter too so… what can you do?) Sorry if this is a disappointment.
In this instalment, Courtney goes overboard to play matchmaker, Adore goes on another trip, and I think I may have fucked up my own timeline but I just really wanted to write this. So I mathed and tried to fix it (I wrote it down this time so I wouldn’t keep getting mixed up and confused). I think it still works? Maybe. I dunno. Numbers.
Language warnings and some flirting leading to some almost very close-to smut! Hurrah!
Additional note: The brief description of Danny’s discomfort in wearing drag for an extended period of time is based solely on my experience in cosplaying. I don’t know if it’s accurate, but what is? Okay, stop talking, start storying.
Chapter Six
Waking up in New Orleans wasn’t exactly what Danny expected to be doing roughly ninety-six hours ago, and yet? Here he was, rubbing sleep out of his eyes as a pile of clothes were being dumped onto him.
“Rise and shine!” Shane chirped excitedly, completely ignoring Danny’s squeaky protests. “We need to get up and get ready if we’re going to make it.” He shoved a water bottle in Danny’s hands. “Drink. Get hydrated and get up.”
“Make it where?” Danny groaned as he unearthed himself from what apparently was almost all of Courtney Act’s wardrobe upended onto his bed.
“You’ll seeeee…” The overly chipper inflection in Shane’s voice should have set off warning bells, and yet? It managed to fly right under Danny’s still not fully awake radar.
“Fuck man, did you bring every single thing you own?”
“No. This isn’t even half of it. Now go on. Get up! Clean yourself up and we can figure out what you’re going to wear!”
Danny complied, albeit with an eye roll and a sour mood. A few days ago, Shane approached Danny with the crazy idea of a road trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Apparently it was a trip he’d been planning for months, but his nameless travel companion had backed out. Why Shane was asking him on this To Wong Foo-esque excursion (without the getting stranded part) hadn’t been discussed (and neither had been how late they’d be arriving for the festivities), but since he wouldn’t have to pay a dime and Shane offered him his own room – well, how was he supposed to say no?
After showering the grime of travelling in a car for two and a half (very nearly three) days and brushing his teeth, Danny wandered back out to sit on the small office chair and watched as Shane sifted through his belongings. “How did you get in here?”
Shane snapped his fingers like he nearly forgot and tossed the hotel room key to Danny. “Careful who you trust that with, the world is full of weirdos.”
“Pretty sure this room is full of them… how’d you even get this?”
The energetic Aussie put his fingers to his lips to shush Danny before he held up two dresses, similar in length, but different in color. “Which one?”
Danny pointed to the iridescent blue as he sipped at his water. “That one.”
“Oh, good choice!” Shane tossed it to Danny and the other blinked in surprise.
“What? No. Are you joking? This isn’t going to fucking fit me…”
“It most definitely will. I’ve got an eye for that kind of thing. Go put it on.”
Danny held the dress out in front of him and shook his head. “No fucking way. There’s no way!”
“Just do as I ask! Go on, shoo!” he gestured with his hands as he spoke, directing Danny back to the bathroom. “I wanna see!”
Shane bit his lip and craned his neck as he started to get his own outfit together for the day, calling out to Danny, “So have you talked to Bianca… or I guess… Roy lately?” he prodded gently, trying to sound as natural as possible.
“Not lately, but he gets busy sometimes. So it’s not a big deal…” Danny rounded the corner in the dress, struggling with the zipper in the back, “Why?” he raised an eyebrow at Shane’s sudden curiosity in the topic. It wasn’t exactly unusual. Shane had checked in on their conversations in the past – but it was usually while Danny was texting with Roy, so it never went unprompted.
Shane shuffled over to help Danny zip the dress the rest of the way, shrugging as he replied, “Oh, just asking. You haven’t talked about him lately so I thought I’d ask…”
“You make it sound like I talk about him all the time…” Danny paused as Shane turned him towards the hotel mirror. “I look weird.”
“You look gorgeous, for one. We can figure out a way to grunge it up a little if you’d prefer, but you look really nice… and two…” Shane began rifling through the duffel bag that Danny had brought all his drag in, as requested. “You actually do talk about him often and that’s perfectly fine… ugh, do you wash these tights?” Danny snickered out a ‘no’ and Shane wrinkled his nose, “Whatever. Okay, these shoes and this jacket… now go!” Shane shoved the items in Danny’s hands and shooed him away again before sitting on the bed and waiting for him to come back out again. “Give me a second and I can help you with your make-up.”
“Bitch, you’re not touching my face. I can get that on my own. Now can you like… go away for six seconds? Jeez…”
Shane shrugged and waited impatiently for Danny to come back out of the bathroom. When he wasn’t quick enough, Shane counted to ten and then got up to lean against the doorway, watching as Danny started to turn himself into the rebel princess he’d crafted over the past year, the shoes and jacket on the counter beside him. “Can I ask what’s going on between you two?”
“Between who? Me and Roy?” Danny leaned close to the mirror, half distracted by what he was doing. “We’re long distance friends who text when we can…”
“Is that all?”
Danny paused in what he was doing and set aside his eyeliner. He turned and faced the still hovering queen who did his best to feign innocence as he seemed to pry at Danny’s social life a little bit more insistently than usual. “Yes? Is there something else we should be?” He leaned one hand on the counter and watched as Shane did a very poor job at covering up that telling grin by chewing on his lip. Danny sighed heavily as he finally caught onto where this was headed, “Why are you asking about it?”
“Okay, don’t get mad but… let’s say a little bird told me that you haven’t had sex since your trip to New York…”
Danny sucked a long breath through his nose and flicked his eyes upwards. “I’m going to fucking kill, Jay…” he growled as he tossed his eyeliner down against the sink, just for the satisfaction of throwing something against something else. It was enough.
“Now, don’t get mad at Jay! He was just… sharing… some personal information that you’d given him in confidence… okay, I know that sounds bad but he really just had the best intentions!”
“You are fucking kidding me… who else knows?” Danny glared when Shane pulled a panicked face and shrugged, “I swear to fucking God…”
“I don’t know! Me, I know… and Detox… and Jasmine… maybe Raven and Alyssa…?” With each added name, Danny groaned a little louder. “It really isn’t that big of a deal, Danny! It’s okay! We just… all kind of figured that maybe you and Bianca were a bit more serious than you were letting on…”
“He’s across the country, with a work schedule that makes me exhausted. Not exactly prime boyfriend material…” Danny sighed as he picked back up where he left off. “Besides… it’s not like we have a lot in common.”
“Then how do you two still talk to each other on a regular basis?”
“I…” Danny stopped again before huffing out another sigh. “I don’t know. Can we just pretend I have a good answer to that one and just move the fuck on?”
“Whatever!” Shane threw up his hands and wandered off while Danny finished getting ready, holding out a wig as he exited the bathroom. “This one,” he insisted before he wandered to the bathroom to get ready himself. Danny took the long black wig and flipped it over onto his head, smoothing it out the best he could with his fingers. He took a step back and stared at the fully realized Adore staring back at him in that short borrowed dress that glittered in a deep, rich-looking peacock blue.
With a playful cock to her hip she skipped back to the bathroom where she’d left the jacket and shoes. Placing both hands on either side of the doorway, she leaned forward slightly and watched as Shane began his own transformation. They stayed like that in silence for several minutes before Shane finally spoke up again. “So why has it been so long, if you don’t mind me asking? If you and Bianca aren’t anything serious, then what’s up?”
Adore shrugged a shoulder and flicked her eyes up into a random corner of the room. “I dunno. Dry spell, I guess?”
“A year long dry spell?”
“It hasn’t been a full year…”
“Close enough. But seriously. Just disinterest or what?”
“I guess? I dunno…” Adore blinked a few times and focused back on Shane, frowning a bit. “You’re trying to get me to talk about New York again, aren’t you?”
“Again. It’s been close to a year and you still haven’t said anything more than ‘massive dick’ and a torn shirt. That, coupled with the fact that you haven’t had sex since? I mean… come on. Excuse me for being curious…”
Adore just snorted before she perched herself onto the back of the toilet and started to absent mindedly chew on her nails. Shane started to impatiently hop up and down in place as Adore continued to stay quiet on the whole matter.
“Oh, come on!”
“Nope.”
“You tell me about the guy who fell asleep on you mid-fellatio but you can’t tell me about this.”
“I’m sorry!” Adore laughed as Shane, now several steps closer to Courtney, groaned and headed back into the room to finish getting dressed. Adore hopped down and followed. “Have you ever just had a guy that you just… you wanted to keep to yourself?” She sighed as she sat down on the bed and started to pick at the mound of clothes spread across it. “Look,” she began when Courtney quipped a short ‘no’, “I can’t explain it. I really can’t. I don’t know fucking why I can’t. I just…” she added a shrug as if that was supposed to put the whole topic to rest.
It was obvious from Courtney’s face that it didn’t do much of anything other than frustrate her. But she relented none the less, “Fine. Fine. Keep your magic New York night to yourself if you wanna be selfish. We’re in New Orleans. It’s Mardi Gras and I,” she gestured to herself with a flourish, “Am going to end that ‘dry spell’ of yours somehow.”
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“Holy fucking fuck in a fucking shit basket…”
The string of expletives weren’t from the crowd on Bourbon Street or Adore being crammed into the crowd on Bourbon Street in daytime drag with Courtney being shoved into her side. It had everything to do with seeing Bianca del fucking Rio on that stage, looking like some classic Hollywood showgirl in red and suddenly – suddenly – everything about this trip snapped into focus so fast it felt like vertigo on solid ground.
The vague story about the trip, the timing of it all, the borrowed dress, the overly helpful Courtney and her incredibly curious questions…
It was so fast that she couldn’t even get mad about it (at first). All she could do was stare, fixated on the vulgar bundle of energy shouting obscenities, casting shade, and doing it perfectly in sequins, feathers and high heels. God dammit, those legs…
When she finally caught her breath, she pinched the underside of Courtney’s arm. Hard. And the Aussie beside her yelped, only to be met with a glare. The spell of shock had dissipated and now there was the anger. Courtney rubbed her arm and shot Adore a sheepish look.
“You wouldn’t have come along if you knew…” She flailed and wrapped her arms around Adore’s waist to keep her still. “And I don’t understand why! That’s why I keep asking about New York. You talk to him constantly and yet we all knew that if you were handed the chance to see him again, you’d pass it up!”
“You all knew? You all knew?” Adore hissed. “You didn’t even try to ask! I’m not mad that I drove a fucking thousand miles with you on this trip because he’s here – I’m mad that you fucking tricked me into doing it! And what? It’s a conspiracy now?”
“Well… I kind of needed a little help with planning everything…”
“Are you joking? What kind of nightmare made for TV romcom special is this?”
“Look. I said I would end your dry spell, didn’t I?” She gestured to the stage, “There’s the solution! One way or another!” She tightened her hold and looked up at Adore with a plea and a strained smile, “Please, Adore. Don’t leave. At least… she’s right there. We can catch up to her when she leaves the stage. At least say hi. That won’t kill you, right?”
Adore prepared herself to argue but got sidetracked by Bianca and her co-host laughing a particularly poorly done costume off the stage and something about it – seeing her in her element, dominating the atmosphere, and just doing her job – seemed to soothe the salted wounds of this particular brand of betrayal (and maybe it was a bit harsh to call it a betrayal, but god dammit). Her whole body relaxed from the tense battle ready (or fleeing, it could have been fleeing) stance it had taken and she nodded. “Fine,” she conceded. “Fine, I’ll at least say hello to him… but only because he’s here.”
And she kind of wanted to, but she wasn’t about to admit that out loud.
–––––––––––––––––––––
If it weren’t for the number of people stopping Bianca for a photo or a compliment or a declaration of love, Adore and Courtney would have easily lost her once the crowd began to disperse. But they got lucky and Courtney’s very loud ‘Oi! Pussy face!’ over the din caught Bianca off guard long enough for them to close the distance. Courtney jogged up first and Bianca beamed.
“Holy shit!” She reached out for a quick hug, and stared in disbelief as if Courtney was just some delusion she’d conjured up one day that suddenly sprang to life. “You’re fucking kidding me. You didn’t mention…”
“I brought you a belated birthday gift,” Courtney gestured behind her just as Adore came into view. “Or early birthday gift, however you want to look at it.”
Adore didn’t quite know how to interpret the change of Bianca’s smile at seeing her. That wide grin dropped, those painted lips parted for just a moment (shock, maybe?) and was followed by what could only be described as an appreciative smirk. “I see…” She coyly cocked her head to the side and for a minute, Adore hated her for it. She bit her lip in anticipation as Bianca said in a voice too high pitched to be sincere, “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
That cackle broke out in waves as Adore rolled her eyes and she was brought into a good, firm hug. “Oh God, what the fuck are you two even doing here?”
“Looking for boys,” Courtney piped up, “Which I’ve found. They’re over there, so I’m going to go – bye!” She retreated quickly before either of them could protest. Bianca shook her head as they both watched the bubbly blond disappear from their sight.
“That fucking shady cunt,” she murmured before turning to face Adore. “So I take it this is the Adore Delano you were so afraid to let me see?”
Adore offered a tight lipped smile and a shrug, “One and the same, I guess. But before you rip me apart, I just want to say you look like a bedazzled chicken right now…”
The jab earned her a laugh, which helped her heart slow down from the rampaging rhythm it was pounding before and she let a genuine smile break through. Her eyes darted downwards as she fought to keep her hands to her sides, bunching up the shimmery fabric between her fingers before releasing it and smoothing it back in place.
“Look who’s on the defensive,” Bianca shot back before she reached out and pushed a few strands of wig fiber from Adore’s cheek. “And you look fine, if it weren’t for this sad looking wig. Dear Christ, do you own a brush?” Her fingers lingered as she felt Adore lean a bit into the touch before she dropped her hand and sighed. “Come on, walk with me. I can’t stay in one place too long or else people will start to swarm. Besides, I have to make an appearance. This way.”
“You’re like… a local celebrity…” Adore didn’t mean to sound so impressed, but she did and she was. There was a life that rippled off of Bianca like waves hitting sand, that pulled back and beckoned Adore to follow. She’d seen it before when they first met, but here it seemed to be stronger, more potent, and more likely to try to drown her.
“Celebrity is a strong word… I just made sure my name got around.”
Adore trailed back when Bianca was stopped for a picture and then picked back up again once ‘thank you’s were exchanged. “Really? Because it’s looking like ‘celebrity’ is the right kind of word to me…”
Bianca sighed out a laugh and shook her head, “I worked in this city for a long time, that’s all. I’m not famous, I’m just familiar.”
Their paces slowed and their hands nudged together, but neither seemed brave enough to lock fingers. Instead, Adore cleared her throat and took a slight step to the side and concentrated very hard on walking straight. She blinked a few times when she realized that Bianca was still talking to her, “What?” She turned her head a bit fast, sucking in a breath when she realized how close Bianca had leaned in and choked out an “I’m sorry…”
“I asked when you got here…” Bianca clarified, taking a step back and curling her hands into fists, taking a moment to smile and nod at someone yelling ‘hello’ to her.
“Oh!” Adore shrugged and started to fiddle with the ends of her wig, wrapping a strand around her finger, “Late last night. This was all Courtney’s brilliant idea…”
“Of course it was,” Bianca flashed a smile that made Adore’s stomach do – maybe not a full flip, but at least an enthusiastic flutter. “Have you ever been?” Bianca tipped her chin up as Adore shook her head and sighed, eyes looking upwards as she was obviously trying to figure something out. “Listen, I’d hate for you to wander around by yourself, but I can’t exactly promise to show you the full New Orleans experience while I’m dressed like this. I technically still have a couple of things I need to do…”
Adore snorted, “God, do you ever get off?” The words slipped out before Adore had a chance to run them through what thin filter she had. If she had, she was certain it wouldn’t have sounded… quite like that. She sucked in a breath as she tried to think of a way to salvage the statement gracefully but could only squeak out, “Work, I mean… you always seem to be working.”
Bianca nodded, “Yeah, I knew what you meant,” though there was a spark in her eyes that said something else that made Adore’s insides warm. “And you wouldn’t be wrong,” she added. “But…” she trailed a bit as she seemed to gather up her thoughts and then pointed towards Adore. “How about this… you text me where you’re staying and I can meet up with you in about three hours…?”
Adore nodded and chewed on her lip, trying to not seem so eager to accept the invitation. “Yeah, sure… I would…” she hesitated to say ‘love’ and settled on the lesser, “really like that…”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
–––––––––––––––––––––
After Bianca separated herself from Adore, the younger queen wasn’t exactly sure what to do with herself. Courtney had abandoned her, with the best of intentions, Adore knew. However, the fact remained that she was officially on her own. Besides, she didn’t want to end up a third wheel with whoever Courtney had planned to occupy her time with when she was obviously trying to stay out of Bianca and Adore’s way.
Maybe it wasn’t the most thoroughly planned out matchmaking attempt, but bless her for trying.
Finding her way back to the hotel wasn’t hard, but she took her time. By the time she got back, her head was pounding, her mouth was dry and her feet throbbed – walking around in drag on minimal sleep early in the day had caught up with her quickly and minor discomfort was amplified by exhaustion and slight dehydration.
She stopped at the edge of her bed and stared at the mound of clothes that were still there before shoving them off to one side. She unpinned her wig and tossed it and the cap onto the dresser, before grabbing the bottle of water she’d abandoned earlier in the day and taking a swig. The shoes, tights, and jacket came next after she pulled off her eyelashes and fell back into bed.
It hadn’t been Danny’s intention to fall asleep, to be honest, and he hadn’t fully realized he’d done it until he heard a knock on his door. Jerking awake and groaning softly, he stumbled a bit out of bed, adjusting his skirt on his way. He assumed it was Courtney coming to check on him.
He’d assumed wrong.
He leaned against the door and just stared at Roy, who was looking back at him with a critical eye, that eyebrow raised and a smirk. “Wow,” he quipped and tilted his head, “You look pretty.”
“Fuck you,” Danny shot back as he turned to retreat back into his hotel room. Roy followed.
“No, seriously. I’m feeling so special to even be in the presence of such radiance…” He snorted when he saw the mess of clothes on the bed, “Wow. This got better…”
“Shut up. This is Courtney’s fault. I take no responsibility. Also? I just woke up so… I dunno… fuck you again.” Danny sluggishly began to gather up the clothes and pile them onto the arm chair nearby just so they were a bit more contained. He gulped at the sound of Roy’s chuckle behind him and he slid back down onto the bed. “Sorry. Give me a minute… I’m still waking up.”
“Take your time.”
Danny stared up at the ceiling before focusing back to Roy and pushing himself back up onto his elbows. “You can sit, you know. You don’t have to stand there like an asshole.” He rolled his eyes as Roy gestured to the armchair full of clothes, “Fuck’s sake…” he scooted over to one side of the bed and patted the other. It didn’t take much arm twisting for Roy to relent and sit down next to him, resting his back on the headboard.
They stayed like that for about a minute or two, but it felt like time was crawling. Danny could smell Roy, who’d clearly showered shortly before arriving, and he had to mentally remind himself not to press his face into his thigh. He rubbed at his eyes, smudging up his make-up more than it already was, as he tried to steer his mind away from the warmth that radiated next to him.
“So did you have another show or something?” He needed a safe topic and work always seemed safe with Roy. There was a sigh and another smile as Roy shrugged.
“Sort of. I had a couple of dicks I needed to suck so I could come back next year.”
Danny snorted out a laugh before he grinned up at the man beside him, “Spit or swallow?”
Roy rolled his eyes before he dropped a pillow onto Danny’s face before snickering and answering anyway, though vaguely, “It depends.”
Danny pulled the pillow off his face and wrapped his arms around it as he turned onto his side, still looking up at Roy and still grinning. “On what?” He was straying rapidly from what would be considered ‘safe topics’, but for an opportunity to tease Roy? He was willing to take the risk.
“None of your business.”
Danny trained his lips into his best pout, “Oh come on…” He pushed himself up and leaned his head against the headboard so he could be eye level with Roy, “Would you swallow if it were me?”
He hadn’t actually meant to ask the question, but now that it was out there he craved for an answer. Roy raised an eyebrow – less out of disbelief and more out of interest – as he flicked his gaze down to the pillow that now covered Danny’s lap.
“Are you asking me to suck your dick?”
“It’s hypothetical.”
“Sure it is.”
Danny snorted again and lightly hit Roy’s shoulder with the pillow. He excused himself to clean up his make-up before they could hold eye contact for too long. Roy followed and trailed after him without a word and was there to hand Danny a clean towel to dry his face. He pressed the towel to his eyes as he tried his best to scrub away the stubborn eye make-up. He remembered rattling something off about it before the towel was pulled gently from his hands and Roy’s lips were on his own.
There was that same spark he felt all those months ago in New York and for a second he thought it was strong enough to transport him back to that night in Roy’s apartment. It didn’t, of course, he was still standing in a hotel bathroom in the New Orleans with the faint sounds of cheering tourists filtering up through his window. But Roy was here, kissing him and tasting like spearmint mouthwash and wine (again). That was already enough.
When Danny’s back hit the wall after being pulled out of the bathroom, Roy’s mouth was back against his, drawing out each moan and whimper with ease. When the kiss finally broke with a barely audible ‘fuck’, the skirt of Danny’s dress was pushed up past his hips and his fingers were frantically trying to work open Roy’s fly.
“I borrowed this dress, don’t rip it – fuck!” Danny threw his head back as his wrists were pinned down and Roy’s hips met his. He pried his hand out of Roy’s grip to grab the back of his neck as their lips found each other again. It felt magnetic, two strong forces being pulled together until they latched onto one another and couldn’t let go.
“Not gonna rip it,” Roy assured gently as the kiss broke apart again, “Turn around…” Danny did as asked, pressing his elbows to the wall and arching his back. Roy’s hands grabbed at his hips with a chuckle so deep it reverberated with sultry sin, making Danny’s heartbeat double as all the blood in his body threatened to rush downwards. His breath caught at the sound of Roy quickly unzipping his dress. He bucked backwards once more and Roy grunted out, “Eager?”
“Just horny as fuck.”
“Pretty sure… that’s the same… thing…” Each pause was punctuated with a kiss as Danny was turned around again and his hands crawled up Roy’s shirt. He was wearing way too many clothes for Danny’s liking. He managed to get it up over the other man’s head and tossed it carelessly to the floor before Roy wrestled his hands away from him again. He leaned in and whispered “hold still,” in a soft, raspy voice that made Danny suck back a plea, bite his lip, and comply.
He stood there frozen, with his hands on either side of his head and bared to the scrutiny of those darkened brown eyes. The kisses that followed were short and sweet and made it hard for Danny to focus. His head was swimming in a syrup of arousal fuelled by the warmth of Roy’s hands and the spicy smell of his soap. He felt the “please” fall from his lips more than he actually heard it – a single syllable that carried the weight of a nine month dry spell and countless nights of New York inspired fantasies that tumbled from his tongue to Roy’s ears.
A soft “ha” followed and Danny watched as Roy flicked his eyes towards the ceiling. He swore he could see a thankful prayer cross Roy’s lips and marvelled at the other man’s visible disbelief of their circumstances. He wasn’t given much time to ponder why Roy would be so surprised before the dress gathered around Danny’s waist (along with his underwear) was pushed to his ankles in one smooth motion when the other man dropped to his knees.
With a gasp, Danny brought his hand to his mouth, biting down on his knuckles as he closed his eyes tight to muffle his moans while the other hand tangled itself in Roy’s hair. Warm and wet suction made Danny dig his heels into the carpet and his head fall back, the only thing really keeping him from sinking to the floor was a nice firm grip on his hips. He whimpered “fuck me” into his fist as the building pressure, ignited by that first kiss, began to sizzle and snap behind his eyelids like small sparklers tracing through a starless night, growing in number and threatening to blind him.
Needless to say, Danny got the answer to his question.
