Five times Danny Abbot and Wes Hughes were NOT boyfriends
1.
It started sometime in Freshman year – neither of them could remember exactly when. It was some dark night, with rain pounding at the windows, at some late hour. Wes couldn't sleep, and it seemed like Danny couldn't either; he'd been tossing and turning restlessly for a while.
"Danny?" Wes spoke into the darkness.
"Yeah?"
"You okay?"
"Mm."
"Bad day?"
Danny sighed and rolled over again, burying his face in the pillow. He felt the other side of the bed weigh down as Wes climbed on and sat down. "What is it?" He asked, and made out Danny shaking his head in the dark. He traced his fingers along the risen skin on Danny's arms, trying to feel for any that were only freshly healed.
"It's okay, there's no new ones there." Danny told him with a smile, which Wes returned.
"Good." He tapped Danny's nose, making him giggle and bat the hand away. "Now are you going to talk to me?"
"It's nothing." Danny replied, watching as Wes started tracing over the lines on his palms. "Are you cold? I don't want you to be cold, you can get in if you want."
So Wes slid between the sheets next to him, laying on his side facing Danny. "What happened?"
Danny shook his head again. "Could we just… talk about something? Anything?"
Wes turned on to his back, resuming the tracing of Danny's hands as he contemplated. "Did I ever tell you about the big field by my house?"
"What about it?"
"Well, there used to be this lake there, back when I was little and this one Winter a flock of ducks landed on the lake. Then all of a sudden, in this complete fluke, the lake just froze over in three seconds flat." Wes paused and looked at Danny, checking his reaction so far.
Danny looked away from their hands and to Wes. "Were the ducks okay?"
"Well, you see, that's the thing." Wes grinned. "The ducks took off… And they took the lake with them! They say that lake's somewhere over in Georgia now."
"What?" Danny laughed, his nose scrunching in confusion.
"I don't know, it was in some movie my mom likes, she used to tell it to me when I couldn't sleep."
"I like it." Danny told him, watching as Wes finally laced their fingers together. "I heard this story…"
Neither of them got much sleep that night, but neither regretted it in the morning.
2.
Danny had been helping Wes pack his things for the move to Windsor all day, though naturally they hadn't been doing much work, rather getting distracted by the stuff they found. They ended up on the couch, Danny's head resting on Wes's shoulder as they talked.
"Do you remember that night you told me about the ducks taking the lake to Georgia?" Danny asked, and Wes nodded. Danny sighed. "I'm going to miss you."
Wes put his arm around Danny, keeping him close. "You can call me any time you need to. Pinky swear, you have to call me."
Danny just smiled, only linking their pinkies together when Wes poked him.
"I'll be over here all the time anyway. Just for Merrill's cooking, not to see you."
Danny laughed and tried to swat at him, and Wes tried to catch hold of his hand before he could, both of them laughing when Merrill came in.
"Oh. Sorry, I didn't realize I was – interrupting." She made to leave but stopped at the noises of protest both boys made as Danny sat up, both clearly very interested in the tray she was carrying. "Have you two actually gotten anything done today?" She asked with a smile, putting down the tray on the desk. "I made you lunch." She turned to leave again, this time interrupted by a quick hug from Danny and a hasty "You're the best, Merrill!" She smiled and shook her head, resolving to come back at some point and make sure they actually packed up Wes's stuff.
3.
They'd decided that on the second Saturday of every month at least, they'd go out together, just the two of them to catch up. It just so happened that in their Junior year, this fell on Valentine's Day. Wes showed up at Hanover at lunch time, holding a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates, making Danny laugh when he opened the door. Merrill offered to put the flowers in some water, raising her eyebrows at Spencer in a would-you-look-at-how-cute-they-are way as soon as her back was turned to them. Spencer was too busy thinking about how beautiful his girlfriend looked - almost bursting with happiness at how cute they were - to really pay attention to the other two.
When they arrived at the restaurant, Danny darted ahead of Wes to open the door for him. Wes shook his head at the poor revenge attempt, but both of them were too shocked to go any further with that discussion when they entered. It was their usual place, but the walls were lined with paper hearts, there was pink and white heart shaped confetti everywhere, and all of the tables had heart shaped balloons and red roses on them. There also appeared to be a mix of the worst love songs in existence playing on the radio. They both shrugged and had their regular meal at their regular table, taking plenty of selfies with the ridiculous décor.
They sang the awful love songs on the car ride back to Dalton, as loudly as they could. Wes walked Danny back to Hanover, his arm around Danny's shoulders and Danny's arm around his waist. They continued laughing and talking until they reached the door, when they both stopped. They looked at each other, looking almost nervous, and Merrill and the twins (who were watching from the window) gripped each other excitedly, because ohmygod was Wes finally going to- and then Wes hugged Danny tightly, told him "Happy Valentine's Day" with a grin, and started the walk to Windsor. But the three behind the curtains exchanged grins as Danny watched him go, which only widened when Wes turned and waved, and Danny waved back, ducking his head with a grin as he went inside.
Unfortunately the three spying didn't move fast enough and received a confused look when Danny caught their deer-in-headlights expressions, but he just shook his head and continued his way to his room. With the twins, they could be up to anything.
4.
It wasn't unusual for Wes to come up behind Danny and jump on him in the hallways between classes, so no one really paid much attention when he broke away from the Windsors and ran up to Danny and slipped his arms around him, greeting him with a loud "HI!" He received an amused "Hello!" in return. The twins caught Merrill's eye, and she widened her eyes at them slightly. They smiled and looked back to Danny and Wes, who were now walking along with Wes's arm around Danny's shoulders. Danny was talking animatedly, and Wes was too busy watching Danny to pay any attention to where they were going. The twins exchanged a look, silently communicating. They waited to catch Merrill's eye again, this time arranging a silent agreement with her.
That evening Wes was attempting to do homework in the common room when the twins slid up beside him, smiling maniacally until he gave in and acknowledged their presence. He raised his eyebrows at them, waiting for them to speak.
"So, March Hare." They grinned.
"You have a liking for a certain…"
"Hanover?"
"Danny and I are just friends." Wes rolled his eyes, going back to his homework.
The twins glanced at each other, before probing. "…Are you sure?"
"Yes," Wes told them resolutely.
So the twins departed. It didn't mean they were wrong. Wes just didn't know yet.
The same evening found Merrill in Danny's room, sat in front of him while he braided her hair.
"Danny?" She sing-songed, smiling mischieviously.
"Yeah?" He asked, curious as to what she was up to.
"Do you have a crush?"
"No," Danny told her, shaking his head as he started the second braid, even though she couldn't see him.
"Are you lying to me?" Her tone was light and teasing, and it made Danny smile.
"No," he repeated, wondering where this was coming from.
"Are you sure you don't have a crush on Wes?" She was still teasing, but this time a blush spread across Danny's face and his breath caught in his chest.
"No," he scrunched up his nose a little. "Of course not. Ew. Gross. Barf." He finished his statement in a joking tone, smiling as he finished the braid.
"Okay," Merrill smiled. Danny was the worst liar when it came to crushes, even if he didn't realize he was lying.
5.
"I cannot get a date. I swear every girl in local vicinity is waiting on either Derek or Jeff, it's crazy!" Wes complained, shaking his head. He was laying on the grass, where he and Danny had been doing homework, but Wes had long since abandoned his. Danny chuckled, and Wes tilted his head to look at him. Danny was upside down to him. "Do you have a date?" Wes asked.
Danny snorted. "No!"
"Don't act like that's crazy," Wes tried to swat at Danny, but he was too far away to really do much but poke his knee. He wasn't quite sure if it was that or his previous statement that earned him raised eyebrows. "Come on, you're swimmer! Girls love swimmers, it means you have a great body." Wes winked. Danny shook his head turned back to his Maths homework. "But really, dude. You could definitely get a date. You probably have a whole ton of secret admirers at Dobry, and here too. You're the resident superman."
Danny met his eyes and smiled, but quickly returned his gaze to his homework again.
"Do you wanna go with me?" Wes asked, his hand still outstretched from his swatting attempts earlier.
Danny's attention shot back to Wes at this, a "what?" escaping his mouth.
"You know, as friends." Wes shrugged.
Danny hesitated before nodding. "Yeah. Okay. Yeah, sure."
6.
"Hey, Wonderboy." Wes smiled as came up behind Danny. He was met with a quiet smile. "May I have this dance?"
Danny's eyes lit up, his smile widening a little as Wes took his hand and led him on to the dance floor. It was a slow song.
Wes guided Danny's hands to his shoulders, and he put his hands on Danny's waist. Wes watched Danny's face as they swayed - he seemed to be a little lost in another world, staring contentedly at nothing - until he met Wes's eyes and smile lit up his whole face that melted Wes's heart a bit. Wes couldn't have stopped the smile he gave in return if he'd tried. Danny moved in closer and Wes rested his head on Danny's shoulder. Wes's heart beat faster, and he hoped Danny couldn't feel it as they danced.
Danny pulled back again, Wes's lips barely brushing his cheek as he did. In that moment, kissing Danny was all Wes could think about. Wes gazed at his best friend – did he even have any idea how special he was?
Danny's eyes drifted down to Wes's mouth for just an instant, but it was an instant Wes caught, made even more obvious by Danny's sudden blushing and ducking his head. Wes gently placed his hand on Danny's face, bringing Danny's eyes back up to meet his. They held the gaze for a moment, when the song ended and they were pulled out of their dream land.
Of course the twins were hosting a crazy after-party, and of course Wes and Danny were in attendance. However, they'd barely been there ten minutes when Danny asked Wes if he wanted to go outside.
They slipped away to the cool night air, and Wes rested his head on Danny's shoulder. "Why did you want to come outside?"
"Hot. And it's a beautiful night."
Wes made a small noise of agreement, moving to look at Danny, who met his eyes and let that smile light up his face again.
"You're my best friend," The world slipped out, and Wes felt the nerves building inside him.
"And you're mine," Danny quietly assented, slipping his hand into Wes's as he stared up at the stars.
"I don't want to monumentally fuck this up, but I love you more than anyone else in the world." Wes murmured.
Danny stared at Wes for what felt like an eternity, before almost whispering "You love me?"
"Of course I do," Wes smiled, blushing furiously.
"Me too," Danny blurted out, awestruck. "I love- I love you, too."
"You do?" Wes smiled, because he had to hear it again.
Danny nodded frantically, his eyes alight with happiness.
Wes paused before asking carefully, "Can I kiss you?"
Danny nodded again, "I'd love that."
AN: In case you're not familiar with Hercules, "Wonderboy" is what Meg calls him, and I believe Danny's prom outfit is Hercules.
I kind of imagined the hand holding like this scene in Orphan Black: post/89512339338/you-just-have-to-keep-moving-forward