Disclaimer: I don't know either of these fine men. This is the sad truth. I do know that Norman has a son whose mother is a Danish model. But that's as far as my knowledge goes in terms of their love lives.

A.N.: This is my first foray into RPS. This is dedicated to the wonderful DrainBamage, so that we can keep this fandom going together.

As always, reviews would make me happy. I will beam you happy thoughts (which cure the plague!)

~PurpleRanger

Straight (ish)

Norman Reedus was straight. Not just straight, mind you: he was unbendingly straight. Geez, haven't you heard that he got a hot Danish model pregnant? He was probably the straightest man on the set for The Boondock Saints. No, scratch that, he was probably the straightest man in the world.

This is why he most certainly was not attracted to the man playing his twin in said movie. Nope. The feelings he had for Sean Patrick Flanery were purely friendship. That dream he had the other night, the one where Sean was giving him a blowjob, was caused by stress. People who are as straight as Norman aren't attracted to men. The fact he got butterflies in his stomach whenever he saw Sean was purely coincidental. That Norman couldn't stop staring at Sean when they were filming that naked scene where the twins' ma calls had to do with the fact he looked up to Sean for being a strong karate master, not the fact he liked Sean's butt. Which he didn't. He was straight, remember?

***********

Norman rubbed his eyes as he walked into the make-up trailer. He was not a morning person. When he took his hands down, he saw Sean sitting in one of the chairs, his hair stilled messy from sleep. Norman's stomach did a flip-flop. Must have been because he had only eaten two pieces of toast for breakfast. His costar smiled up at him. "Hey Norman," Sean said as Norman moved to sit down. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yep," Norman replied, pushing away the memory of the dream he had the night before where he was watching Sean masturbate. That was simply because he was going to be a father and thus eventually have to talk to his son about these things. "Wish I could've slept more, though. How about you?"

"I slept great," Sean said. He looked down at his hands while he talked, as if he didn't want to meet Norman's gaze. "I kind of wish I had a bedmate though, you know? I'm tired of not cuddling. Well," his gaze, which had gone to Norman's face, dropped again, "I guess you don't really know. What with Helena being pregnant and all."

"Um." Norman suddenly couldn't look at Sean either. "We kind of split up a while ago. She just found out about the pregnancy. I'm excited to be a father, but it's not like I'm going to have a bedmate now either." He only wanted to clarify that he and Helena were split because Sean was his friend. It wasn't like he wanted Sean to know he was available.

"I'm sorry about that," Sean said, looking back at Norman. For some reason, he looked a little happier than before though (not that Norman was obsessive about how Sean felt). "It's been tough for me to find a bedmate lately. I can't be out about being gay because of my profession, so…"

"You're gay?" Norman interrupted. The fact he sounded so upbeat was because he was glad his friend got this load off his chest, not because he wanted Sean to be gay. Why would he want that? He's straight! "I didn't know that."

"Really? I'm sorry I didn't tell you; I assumed you would figure it out."

Norman was only grinning because Sean trusted him with this information. There was no other reason, damn it!

By the end of the day, however, Norman was not grinning. He was tired and sore but had agreed to have dinner with Sean. Because Sean was a nice person and his friend. Why do you keep thinking that Norman isn't straight?

He knocked on Sean's door, bouncing on the balls of his feet. The door opened and Norman walked in, staring at his friend. Sean looked – in Norman's manly, straight opinion – extremely good. Why weren't the pants he wore for costume that tight? Not that Norman wanted them to be; it was just a question.

"I felt too tired to go out, so I got Chinese food delivered. Is that fine with you?" Sean asked absently as Norman followed him into his hotel room. There were a few take-out cartons spread out on the bed, and Norman thought it smelled heavenly.

"It's great. I'm beat too. God, today was draining. I'm a perfectionist and even I thought Troy was being anal retentive." Norman pushed out of his mind the images brought up by the word anal. Said images were of overly-clean houses, of course; those always gave him the willies.

The two men opened the cartons and a couple of beers and ate silently for a bit. Then, as they were slowing down, Sean looked at Norman. "Hey, Norm? I'm sorry if my being gay made you uncomfortable this morning. I just thought you already knew."

"No!" Norman said, swallowing his lo mein hastily. "It didn't make me uncomfortable. You just caught me off guard with such a big confession, you know? I'm completely fine with it. I didn't mean to give you that impression. Anyway," he grinned at his friend, "if I were uncomfortable with homosexuality, would I be sitting in your room twelve hours after you told me that?"

Sean grinned back at his costar. Norman did have a point. He took a deep breath to steady himself and hoped fervently that Norman would be just as fine with his next confession. "Norm, I don't really know how to say this. We've gotten really close over these past few weeks, you know? And I think I'd like to try being more than just friends with you. If," he added quickly, "you want to try that too."

Norman's brain short-circuited. "But I'm straight!" he said, but then his mouth kept going. "That dream I had, where you gave me a blowjob was totally random, and it doesn't mean I'm gay! Nor does the fact my stomach flip-flops whenever you're around! Or the fact I got kind of hard when I was looking your butt while we were both naked. Not that I was looking!"

Sean stared at Norman.

"Oh fuck," Norman said quietly, his brain catching up to his mouth. "Did I say all of that out loud?"

Sean nodded, and then began to speak. "Norman, you sound like you are honestly confused with your sexuality. Being attracted to one man doesn't make you gay, you know. Maybe you're curious. Maybe your brain and heart don't see gender. You're attracted to whoever you're attracted to. If you want," Sean looked down as he suddenly felt shy, "we could try dating a bit, and let you see if it really is attraction and all. If you realize that you aren't really attracted in the long run, I won't be mad." Broken-hearted, yes; mad, no. "We'll just go back to being friends."
Norman took a deep breath and let himself feel, not thinking about being straight for once. "I think I'd really like that, Sean." He smiled bashfully at his friend, who smiled back.

Sean leaned over the cartons of Chinese food and kissed Norman softly on the lips. "Does this mean we can cuddle a bit? We won't do anything you don't want to."

Norman nodded. He really did want to snuggle up with Sean and feel that muscled body near him.

Norman Reedus wasn't really straight. Not quite.

THE END