When J. Daniel Atlas was young and thought about his future love life, all he wanted was about four people who all wanted to be with each other. He had planned it all out. Since people weren't tolerant of polygamous people, he decided that they would split into two sets of couples in public. The two groups of two would date, and eventually marry, but they would all buy a house together under the ruse that they wanted to save money, when in fact, their little group of four would be together forever. Little Daniel was pleased with his future, but he couldn't help thinking what so many people had said: That this was disgusting, illegal, and completely against their religion. Danny didn't see how it was so wrong; it wasn't a harem or anything, just four people who loved each other very much and didn't mind sharing within a tight group of people. (Even with these rationalizations, he couldn't help but hate himself for what he wanted.)

As he grew up, life events made him grow up to be cynical and pessimistic. His parents eventually couldn't pay for his school, and had to place him in public school, where he was bullied incessantly. He could've dealt with this, but his dad eventually lost his job and turned to alcohol, and his mom left. With his home life wasting away, Danny tended to take long walks just to get away from everything. Little Daniel of ten years was walking one day, and found a street magician. The name on the piece of decorated wood said 'Lionel Shrike.' Daniel watched as Shrike did magic, and looked at the crowds adoring faces. Shrike fit in, and Danny wanted that. So Daniel began learning magic.

At school, he had to fend for himself, taking punches, and eventually learning that the best way to escape was to create a diversion. If the bullies were looking the other way, and if he was fast enough, he would get away, looking at their shocked faces when they turned around to see Danny gone. (With this, Danny learned the importance of a diversion and the sleight of hand. He would incorporate it into his magic.)

Throughout all this, Danny grew. He grew to create a hard exterior so he didn't have a soft vulnerability that others could sense and pierce. He continued to use this cold narcissistic mask his whole life. When he made it big as a magician, he left everything behind to chase after his dream. However, he quickly learned that being new to the business meant being an easy target for higher ups, and he felt he had to once again don the mask of cold indifference in order to survive.

Throughout his years as a magician, he created several traits that defined him: his asshole-ish personality, his one night stands, and his control freak attitude. He didn't play well with others because he had to control the whole scene. He didn't take criticism well. He talked bluntly, and didn't care about others feelings. He ran a tight ship, and didn't' let anything disrupt it. He didn't play well with others.

So when he got a tarot card with a place and time, he thought he was finally going to be noticed and commended for a job well done. Which was why he got especially asshole-y and bitchy when he saw Henley and two other guys waiting. (He didn't think they were cute. Not. At. All.)

Looking at the blue prints, Danny couldn't help but feel impressed, however, and felt a strange sense of companionship with whoever created these. He could tell, just by looking at those plans, that whoever this was, they too, ran a tight ship. Every little detail was planned out for, and not one detail was frivolous. Just looking over them, he could understand where seemingly unimportant details became very important. Not a thing was overdone, or single figurative hair out of place. He was impressed.

That year was one of the best of his life. He had people beside him that he could call friends, he was famous (for a good cause), and was pulling off heists that no one in the audience could keep up with. The Horsemen even had the FBI, the best and the brightest, running around in circles as they managed to get the best of them every time.

(He was secretly happy that Jack was "dead," as it kept him out of danger.)

Now, when Danny thought about his dream love life, he couldn't help thinking that about him, Jack, and Merritt (not Henley, with her beautiful laugh and fiery personality that matched her hair).

But he wasn't pining after his fellow Horsemen. Obviously.

It's just, Danny would often find himself thinking about Jack's infectious happiness, the way his eyes would light up whenever he was pulling a prank, and Merritt when they started their banter, and when Merritt would pull age saying that because he was the oldest, his word mattered more.

Jack was full of energy, and his pranks always managed to make him smile, no matter how mad or sad he was. Jack was like the wind, a mischievous wind, who was always full of energy (except in the mornings) and seemed to always have a laugh on hand. Through trial and error, Danny learned that when Jack was quiet, something was seriously wrong, and was Jack's way of asking for help with a problem or sickness. Usually, Jack would act like everything was just fine until he literally fell down. He would pretend to be fine and joke around until he didn't have the strength to do so, in which case Danny learned to take notice. (Even though many say that Danny doesn't have a heart, Jack would vehemently disagree, though he would never tell Danny.)

Merritt, in Danny's (very accurate) opinion, was an asshole. He showed he cared by being an asshole. Merritt would use his gimmicks (as unlikely as it sounds) to help. On many occasions in which Danny was sulking, Merritt could take less than three minutes to figure out what was going on, so matter how hard Danny tried to keep him from understanding. Danny would never, ever admit that he found Merritt's work very cool and very briefly tried to learn it as well. (It was annoying as hell when it was used on you, but a very useful tool to learn, yet Danny never got the hang of it.)

(Danny tries not to think about Henley and how she felt she was stifled with the Horsemen, and eventually left the three of them alone, with a hole where she used to be.)

Danny remembers times when the three of them would go out for coffee or something, with no goal in mind other than to catch up. He remembers daring Jack to try and steal something from someone, then having to put it back without them noticing. It was a good laugh for all of them when Jack was putting the watch back on the guys wrist when he noticed, and thought he was stealing it. Merritt and Danny were laughing hysterically back in their booth, while Jack frantically tried to explain that he was giving it back.

He couldn't help but look at the chemistry between the three of them and smile when he thought of how Dylan just knew that they would all be perfect for each other, balancing out each other perfectly. Then look away quickly because he wasn't pining after two people of the same sex as him at the same time; that would just be disgusting (he hated himself for how utterly fake the words sounded in his head).

So when Danny got a message that the Horsemen were meeting, he eagerly went over in the hopes that he would see his fellow Horsemen, and was excited about planning a heist with his favorite people.

So It came completely unexpectedly and unwelcome when Danny got to the meeting place and found out that there was supposed to be another (admittedly cute (no no no no no, Daniel, not again!)) Horseman added to the mix. He didn't want another person! He just got over his crush for the other ones (he wasn't over them), he didn't have time to try and deal with another person trying to fill Henley's hole in the group!

He would deal with her in time, but now he finally had another mission from the Eye to complete. He went over the blueprints in his head, quickly memorizing and running calculations in his head figuring out the what's, when's, who's, where's, and how's the mission presented He was just going over what he was supposed to do when Lula started chatting incessantly in his ear, completely cutting off a calculation and throwing him off. His eye twitched and he tried to ignore her, once more trying to complete the calculation. He couldn't concentrate, however, with Lulu's continuous commentary on his lack of answers to his questions.

"… my god you're ignoring me. You're kind of an asshole, you know that?"

"Thank you." Danny said with a smirk, thinking back to the first time Henley and he met Merritt.

"I said you were an asshole."

"I know. And I said, 'thank you.'"

"Whatever." Lula said as she sauntered away.

Danny briefly noticed that she went over to start flirting with Jack, and a bolt of ugly jealously sparked through his stomach. He quickly turned away and rationalized that since Jack didn't like him, and was in no way connected to Danny or under his protection, he should just let it go. (Danny knew somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind that he was in denial, but as long as it stayed in the dark recesses of his mind, he didn't care.)

Over the course of the months that it took to plan the new heist against Owen Case, Danny started to tolerate Lula. He found out that she was surprisingly sarcastic, and had a lot to bring to the team. She was a master at illusions, and knew how to make a completely irrelevant and unassuming thing the main focus while the real magic was going on in the background. (Danny would never say this, but he was impressed. She had even fooled him at one point.)

It took a while to get used to Lula's incessant chattering and smug behavior, but once he did, Danny couldn't help but find himself in as deep with her as he was with Jack and Merritt.

Lula was… interesting. She, like Jack, was constantly full of energy. They hit it off like a house on fire when they learned of each other's passion for using their skills to pull off pranks and make others laugh, but they differed when it came to planning a heist. Jack liked to keep things clean and simple, with less ways for it to go wrong, while Lula preferred a huge and flowery plan with misleading parts and distractions while the true magic was going on in front of their faces if only they would look. Danny often thought that she had a too loud of a presence, but she managed to pull it off very well.

"God damn them, and their unfairly attractive faces, and fuck Jack's smile, and fuck Merritt's amazing comebacks, and fuck Lula and her ability to make anyone smile and fuck them and fuck me…' Danny muttered under his breath as he practiced his part in the heist. Dylan suddenly walked in, and Danny was glad he finished that sentence under his breath. If Dylan heard he didn't know what he would've done.

"Alright, listen up team!" Dylan yelled, and the rest of the horsemen started to pay attention. "Tomorrow's the heist, so make sure you guys get some sleep. I don't need to be pulling Jack along like I had to that one time…" Dylan trailed off as he glared teasingly at Jack.

Jack raised his hands in surrender. "I recall that being one time, and I believe I've learned my lesson."

Danny snorted. He remembered that one time very well with amusement. It had taken nearly three cups of coffee to get Jack coherent enough to do his part in the show. Danny was surprised that Jack had managed to pull his part in the show off, and so well that no one had noticed. As soon as they got off stage however, Danny thought as he said goodnight and went to his allotted room, he had nearly fallen face first in his exhaustion, and required Merritt and Danny to carry him to their car and back to the hotel they had been staying in. Danny and Merritt had teased him about it for ages afterward.

"You know, I've heard that if you're nervous, it can be really helpful to picture each other naked." Danny almost rolled his eyes visibly at Lula awful attempts at flirting with Jack. If he hadn't found it so endearing, he might have been annoyed, but as it stood, he only smirked with slight amusement.

"It's actually picture the audience naked. " Danny felt he had to but in.

"No, this is new. This is a new science. So, I don't know. Do you want.. We should try it." Danny covered his laugh with a cough, amusement flooding his face at Lula, especially since he knew Jack knew what she was doing, and was wonderfully embarrassed at the attention from her.

"Not the right mood."

"Guess that leaves you and me, old buddy." Merritt said, and no, Merritt couldn't seriously be considering…

"What?"

"Picture each other-" Nope. Nopitty nope nope nope. He could not finish that or Danny would be as bright red as a tomato. Danny did not want to be teased mercilessly by Merritt and the others for this, so it would be better to cut that thought off right now.

"No. No, thank you."

"I mean, I admit, from the neck up there are issues. But from the neck down, I'm good." Danny quickly turned away, hoping to god that Merritt didn't notice him blushing. He was a mentalist though, and probably noticed it despite Danny's efforts to hide it.

Danny hated that one of his crushes was a mentalist.

"Hello New York!"

The Horsemen came onto stage without a hitch, and Danny couldn't help but feel a flash of pride at being on top of the stage, where he belonged, with his fellow Horsemen. It had been forever since he had last been onstage. Danny felt like he was on a high, being in front of a crowd again, and looked to his right, where Merritt was, and to his left, where Lula was, then found Jack in the crowd, and saw him giving them a thumbs up. All of them couldn't stop smiling.

"Thank you so much, it's great to be back! Have you met our new Horseman, Lula, yet?"

He looked to Lula, who, granted looked a little overwhelmed, was smiling. "Feels good, right?"

Danny took a tiny step back and looked at his friends. Merritt was controlling the crowd, as usual, and seemed completely in his element. Lula, next to him, got a bigger part than Danny did tonight because it was her "coming out." Lula was blushing, whether at embarrassment at her warm welcome, or because she was feeling like high like he was was a toss-up.

Danny decided to get the ball rolling with a happy look towards his Horsemen and a "What does your privacy mean to you? Because apparently to Owen Case, it means absolutely nothing."

Danny looked in the crowd and saw Jack with a look of longing in his eyes, before he looked away. Danny then heard Jacks' voice in his ear that the FBI was here, but was pleased to hear that they were continuing with the plan. Danny continued, but the mic started shorting out. He looked quizzically towards Jack and his Horsemen up on stage, but they all shrugged in concern. Danny made a quick hand signal towards Lula, and thank god they knew each other so well because she understood and took over his line.

Danny got really concerned when hers shorted out as well.

Then almost died of shock at the next think that came through the speakers.

"As the Horsemen like to say, magic is about controlling perception. You see them as champions of the truth, but are they? Or is that just another one of their illusions? So, since they clearly love secrets... Let's reveal some of theirs."

"Danny, everyone, get off the stage!"

"Abort!"

"Jack, go with them!"

"I'll see you at the meet-up point!"

"Let's go!"

"Do you recall the death of Jack Wilder? What if I told you he's not just alive, but he's actually right here?"

Danny could only feel terror as he realized that someone knew all of their secrets, that Jack was still alive, oh god. Now the people knew that Jack was alive! Who the fuck?

What the fuck was going on? It was happening so fast, but he managed to hear Dylan yell for them to exit and leave through the rooftop, while he stayed and got out. Then he was running with the most important people in his life. They were running across the rooftop, yelling at each other, but Daniel couldn't really hear or feel anything, stuck in a "What the fuck?" mindset. All he could think about was keeping his fellow Horsemen safe, and so threw himself down the slide first, wanting to make sure it was safe…