"Hey, Danny." Jack greets him.
"Jack," Danny nods at him, "care to explain why you are here."
"Death is lonely, you know?" Jack nonchalantly replies.
"No, I can't say I know, given that I'm not dead."
"Lucky you."
"Can I help you or can we cut the formalities?"
"Just wanted to know if you needed anything?"
"Hm, I wonder what you could possibly be referring to."
Jack jumps off the couch, dropping the apathetic act and walking over to Danny.
"Listen, dude, you don't need to blame yourself. No one could have predicted-"
"That she would have left?" Danny cuts him off. "No one could have predicted that my "coming clean" could have pushed her out? Is that what you want me to talk about? Because I can tell you right now that I really do not want to talk about it. But thank you, my dear friend, for offering your condolences." Danny bit out. Jack had the grace to look almost ashamed.
"Danny, I'm sorry."
"Yeah, well aren't we all."
*Flashback*
Danny was sitting on the couch in his new apartment. The horsemen had come to the agreement that they needed to stick together to stay sane while in hiding. At the moment, Jack and Merritt were practicing card-throwing in the back alley, while Danny was absent-mindedley shuffling cards. Henley on the other hand, was trying to decide whether or not now was the time. Danny was hyper-aware of her presence at the doorway and it was suffocating. For the last few months, she was constantly dropping hints about her feelings for Danny. She thought his lack of reciprocation was due to being oblivious, while in reality, he was just trying to ignore it.
"Henley, just say whatever it is. Your breath down my back is unnerving." He could hear her take a shaky breath in. She made her way over to the couch and sat next to him.
"Listen, Danny...," he did not look away from his cards, knowing what was coming next and not wanting to hear it. "Danny, could you please listen to me?"
With a sigh, he put down his cards and looked at her expectantly.
"Okay, Danny, I'm just going to come right out and say it. I have feelings for you and I know that you do too," Danny raised an eyebrow, but decided it would be best to let her finish, "because everytime we're around each other, the tension is there and I can see your jealousy when Merritt speaks to me. But I'm tired of us skirting around each other, and I'm doing something about it." She looked at him with so much hope that he almost felt bad having to explain to her what was really going on.
"Henley, I respect you as my friend and as a fellow magician to a certain degree, but that is the extent of it. I, in fact, do not return your feelings. The jealousy with Merritt was solely for the set-up of screwing Arthur. The tension is only there because you desperately have feelings for me that I will never return. The reason for that being that I currently have feelings for a man." Danny really did not mean to share that last part with anyone at any point in time, but he was hoping that she would understand what he was hinting at.
Henley looked shocked, to say the least. How could he? After all of this build-up, after everything they've been through? "How dare you!" She stood, screaming with her finger pointing at him. "You have the balls to lie and tell me your gay just to-"
"I can assure you that I am not lying as an excuse to avoid having feelings for you."
"I can't believe this, Danny. That's it. You know what, I am done. I am completely done. I have been waiting around for you and for The Eye, but it's not worth it! I don't even care about The Eye, I just want to perform. But I thought that maybe, you would finally admit your feelings-"
"Feelings I do not have", Danny interrupted.
"Fine then. Just fine." Henley said with a mixture of anger and defeat.
When Jack and Merritt come back into the apartment and see Danny, sitting on the couch shuffling cards, as Henley is angrily grabbing her things, they know exactly what happened.
"So you finally told him about those feelings, then, huh?" Merritt says.
"Yes, she did." Danny replies shortly.
"So, how did that go for you?" Merritt asks in a sweet tone.
"Splendid, did you know that Danny is-"
"Henley, please, I don't-"
"Our dear Danny, the womanizer that he is, sleeping with any girl stupid enough to fall for his tricks, is suddenly gay! All so that he won't have to sleep with me. Am I not good enough for you Daniel? Hm? You can sleep with whatever piece of trash you want, but I'm not good enough for you! And you don't even have the decency to tell me the truth!" Henley screams from her room as she walks out with her bags.
"I did tell you the truth, you're choosing to not believe it."
"Whatever, Danny, I'm leaving." Just before she walks out the door, she looks sympathetically at the other two. "I'm sorry, I just can't do this anymore."
The room is silent and tense as Danny stares at his cards with the other two staring at him.
Merritt breaks the silence with a whistle, "You have really done it this time, haven't you." Merritt decides to then follow Henley out and say his own goodbyes to her.
Jack just watches Danny, trying to decide what to say, still in shock about what he has heard. "Are you really gay?"
"Yes. And I think it would be best for everyone if you and Merritt find your own apartments. It's about time." And with that. Danny walks back to his room.
*End Flashback*
"Danny, it's not your fault that you didn't return her feelings."
"I am perfectly aware of that, thank you. Now please leave." Instead of leaving though. Jack just helps Danny put away his groceries, deciding that giving him time to talk would be best.
After they finish, Danny stares Jack down over the counter. Not one to be intimidated, Jack smiles, trying to break the tension.
"You know, Danny, when I first met you, I absolutely idiolized you."
"Really, I couldn't tell." Jack just continues smiling, despite Danny's sarcasm.
"And over the course of the year, getting to know you, I stopped idiolizing you."
"People generally do stop idiolizing their heroes after meeting them."
"I stopped idiolizing you and started seeing you as a person."
"That's nice to hear, given that I am a person."
"And something I noticed was that you are incredible." That one actually got Danny confused. He had followed the conversation up to this point, but this seemed to come out of nowhere.
"Care to explain."
"You always had this, " Jack articulates with his hands trying to explain his point, "this way about you? You plan everything, you are prepared for everything. And everyone calls you a control freak, but I think you're just a genius. Even when someone else was in charge and you had to follow orders, you did what you could to understand what was happening and keep us all sane. And faking my death? That was completely your idea and your plan. I put my actual life into your hands, and you trusted me. Now, I know I only met you a little over a year ago, but one thing I have noticed is that you don't trust anyone. But you trusted me to carry out your plan and that means a lot."
Danny, still looking confused, says "That's very kind of you, Jack, but I'm not sure what that has to do with trying to force me to talk about Henley?"
Jack smiles, "She accused you of lying when you said you were gay. But I don't think you were. I also don't think you want anyone to know because then you lose control. I think you only told her because you were trying to soften the blow." Danny still didn't understand how his being "incredible" had to do with anything, but it was nice to hear that Jack understood his reasoning.
"Okay, sure, what are you getting at?" Danny questions.
"Well, Danny, I don't want to force you into anything, but whenever you want to admit that you have feelings for me, I just want you to know that I return them." And with a final smile at Danny's flabbergasted expression, Jack walks out the door.
*End*