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sidChapter Two: 'Scenes From a Mall'
Chapter Three is 1,370 words, rated PG-13 for a bit of language. I'm working on more, but this seemed like a good stopping point. :-)
RAPPROCHEMENT
Jack opened his door. Yep. Daniel. Joy.
“Hey.”
“Daniel.”
Daniel squinted at him, and Jack thought that his eyes looked a little funny. “May I come in?”
“That depends,” Jack said, stepping back to let him in. “Are you here to yell at me?”
Daniel blinked as he crossed the threshold, and then sniffed and blinked again. “How much have you had to drink?”
“Plenty.”
“What is that?”
“Bourbon.”
“Oh, okay. Any left?”
It was Jack’s turn to blink and to take a closer, if somewhat blurry, look at Daniel’s face. What he saw made him put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Sure. Go sit down and I’ll bring you a glass and some ice.”
“And some bourbon,” Daniel muttered as he headed for the stairs.
“The bottle’s already there,” Jack muttered in return as he walked into his kitchen and opened a cupboard.
“Oh, the bottle’s already here,” Daniel observed from the living room.
Jack filled Daniel’s glass to overflowing with ice cubes and headed for the other room. Daniel was standing with his hands in his pockets, staring down into the fireplace, in which there was no fire. Jack slid a few of the ice cubes into his own glass and poured Daniel a good-sized drink. “Here.”
Daniel turned and took it. “Thanks.” He sipped and made a face.
“You need some water?”
“No, it’ll just take a little getting used to. Bourbon’s not my usual.” He pushed his glasses up.
“You don’t have a usual. Didn’t. Didn’t have.” Maybe Bjorn had him drinking akvavit. Jack topped up his own glass, frowning.
“Yeah.” Daniel stared down into his glass. “I really didn’t come here to talk about my drinking habits.”
“Or mine, I hope.” Jack raised his glass in a mock toast.
Daniel ignored him. “I came to apologize, I guess. Partly.”
“What for?” Jack asked, sitting down on the couch. Daniel stared at him, eyebrows aloft, and Jack waved his glass to encourage elaboration.
“I assumed that you’d said or done something to offend Bjorn. That was wrong of me. I’m sorry.”
“I’m frequently offensive. I can’t really blame you too much.” Jack meant to smile as he said it, but fell somewhat short of the mark.
“That’s not true.”
“Sure I am.”
“I mean… that part’s true enough. I meant the not blaming me part. I offended you.” Daniel looked at him earnestly.
Jack shrugged.
“No, I did.”
“Okay. Doesn’t matter. Let it go.” Jack waved an expansive hand. Enough bourbon and he could forgive just about anyone just about anything.
Daniel took a long swallow of his drink. “Maybe after some more of this,” he said. “And maybe I’ll stop wanting to wring Nyan’s neck after a couple more.” He looked up at the ceiling.
“What’s happened?” Jack asked quietly.
“Bjorn’s breaking up with me.”
Jack’s drink sloshed onto his knee. He put the glass down quickly. “What?”
“He thinks that I belong with you.” Daniel turned away.
There was a silence as a multitude of thoughts raced through Jack’s mind, bumping into each other. “I assume that you corrected him.”
Daniel made a sound that vaguely resembled a laugh. “I tried.”
After a painful second Jack asked, “Is he brain-damaged?”
It sounded a little more like a laugh this time, as Daniel turned to look at Jack. “I hadn’t considered that possibility.”
“Well, there’s obviously something wrong with him,” Jack said solemnly.
Daniel drained his glass.
“Whoa! That went down fast,” Jack observed. “More?”
“Please.” Daniel came to hand Jack his glass, and sat down beside him on the couch. “You don’t want to hear about all of this,” he added as he reached for his refill.
“If you need a friend to talk to, I’m all ears.”
“But you’re not just a friend. It isn’t fair.”
“But I am just a friend, and why doesn’t Bjorn get that?”
Daniel ran a hand through his hair.
Jack had to ask. “Did you tell him about me?”
“About…?”
“About a certain talk we had at your place a while back?”
“Oh. God, no, Jack. That was private.” Daniel looked affronted.
“People tell their significant others all kinds of things.” Jack remembered how that worked, when it worked.
Daniel frowned at him. “Well, I didn’t. I’m surprised you would think that I might.”
“I tried not to think about it, frankly.” Well, that slipped out. Jack reached for his glass, flustered, and then decided against it. His lips were already loose enough to sink a battleship. “Anyway. He seemed to be under the distinct impression that I was interested in you. So I wondered.”
Daniel slouched forward, rolling his shoulders as he put his elbows on his knees. “Apparently he was already under the impression that there might be something between us. Evidently I talk about you a lot.”
Jack told himself that the warmth in his belly came from the liquor. “Sure. We’re friends, co-workers; I piss you off, you need to rant.”
“Oh, absolutely,” Daniel agreed, with a sideways grin that didn’t last long. “You really don’t want to hear all this.”
“You’re right. I don’t.” Jack grabbed instinctively for his bourbon and took a healthy gulp. “But I’m not goin’ anywhere.”
“You’re a good friend.”
“Getting maudlin on your second drink?” Jack asked the contents of his glass.
“I’m a little emotional.” Daniel bowed his head.
“Sure,” Jack said uncomfortably. He patted Daniel’s shoulder.
“Bjorn has never believed that I love him the same way that he loves me.”
Jack closed his eyes tightly. “Can I change my mind?”
“How drunk are you?” Daniel asked fretfully.
“Sorry. I’ll try to be good.”
“We’ll see how long that lasts.” Daniel took a swallow.
“So, was he right?”
“That’s not the point. It’s what he believes. That’s all that matters.”
“Yeah, okay.” It wasn’t like Jack actually wanted to hear the answer. Not if it was the answer he didn’t want to hear.
“He said that all he had to do was watch us together, and he… he could see… more than he thought was there between him and me. More than there should be between people who are just friends.”
Jack grimaced. “Well, I don’t know what goes on between the two of you, but probably a good chunk of what he thought he was seeing was just me. Maybe he could see it because he was looking for it. I sure as hell wasn’t trying to….”
“No. I know.” Daniel lifted his glass and then lowered it, untasted. “He saw it because it’s there to see. I mean, always. Right from….”
Jack stared at him in astonishment.
“Come on, Jack. There’s a connection. We get each other. Even though frankly half the time I don’t get you at all, and I’ll bet it’s more than half the time for you.”
“Right now might be one of those times.”
Daniel snickered, looked surprised at himself and sobered. “That’s just the bourbon slowing you down.”
“It’s getting to you, too,” Jack said, nudging Daniel with his shoulder. It got him another snicker. “You eat anything?”
“Hmm? No.”
“Pizza? You goin’ anywhere?”
“I’m not going home.” Daniel reached for the bourbon and topped up his glass. “I left Bjorn sleeping off our ‘goodbye’ fuck.”
Jack’s jaw dropped. He closed it with a click. “Way to ruin my appetite there, Danny boy.”
“Sorry. Really.” Daniel peered at him. “I seem to be a needy mess who hopes to impose on you and probably make you just as miserable as I am in the process.”
“Okay, look. Number one, you never impose. You wanna stay here tonight?” Jack stood up and waved an arm. “That’s okay by me. Mi casa, and so on.”
“Thank you.” Daniel hiccuped gently.
“Thanks are not necessary. Ever. Unless you want to get your wallet out. Because, Number two, what do you want on your half?”
Daniel smiled. It was slow and it flickered and grew, and it finally grew wide. “The usual.”
It had been a while, but Jack remembered. And was able to manage speed dial with no problem. But when he had hung up, he had to ask: “Did I just ask for shausage?”
“And epproponi!” Daniel shouted, falling over sideways onto the couch.
~~~~Chapter Four, 'Dream Deferred': http://sid.dreamwidth.org/146027.html
(no subject)
Date: Mar. 11th, 2009 02:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Mar. 11th, 2009 02:11 am (UTC)We're both nuts.
But in a good way. :-)
(no subject)
Date: Mar. 11th, 2009 02:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Mar. 11th, 2009 02:22 am (UTC)