NOTES: Hello, hello! In case you followed this story, you will see a major change in the plot: the place, of course. Long story short, my husband and I were supposed to go to Europe (and thus have actual inspiration for this piece), but given some medical circumstances, that will take a back seat. Obviously, I'm not very comfortable with the idea of writing about something I do not know at all, so here I am changing the destination to Sydney, Australia – still one of my favorite places in the world, and at least something I can honestly talk about for days end.

But as with the previous version, please do note that the story's focal point remains to be the lovely something we would like very much for Jack and Danny to ship. Some specific venues (aka names of apartments/hostels) are made up.

The title of the series is "I Choose To", and is based on a painfully beautiful poem by Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi. Five lines, five chapters – hence that means ending each chapter with one line. It should act as an anchor of sorts for the story, but let's see how it goes, seeing that these well-laid plans usually take on a life of their own.

I start off with the usual disclaimers:

You know the drill – for feedback, leave a comment (or two or three) or email me directly at ficamaze .

This is primarily a Lover's Death (aka Jack/Daniel) story. I do not own anyone (i.e., characters, etc) or anything (i.e., lines, scenes, concepts, etc) from the Now You See Me series.

Absolutely no copyright infringement intended.

I CHOOSE TO

Part 1: Silence

June 4, 2017

The weather was perfect – it was dry, and very cool. His apartment, some twenty minutes away by train, was quaint and cozy enough, his host family a bright bundle of cheer and love. The people were beautiful, and certainly polite enough: there were no curious gazes as to why a twenty-something man was walking to one of – if not the – most well-known landmarks at ten-thirty in the evening.

He didn't know what he expected to find in this pretty city, but he had gone anyway to appease everyone back home, to get away from the curious gazes and to – in Dr. Mitchell's words – "take the first healing steps to getting better", whatever that was supposed to mean.

Daniel Atlas had to admit the view was pretty magical, the closer his feet took him to the legendary Opera House. The entire edifice was quietly lit up, and he oddly enough found its gentle lighting nicely offset the excited murmurs of the city and its occupants. It was beautiful, he had to give it that much credit.

And yet, as he leaned against the low wall some distance from the structure, he still wasn't sure what he expected to find in this bustling and beautiful city. He stood there for minutes, hours, just gazing up at the structure and wondering where he was supposed to start with this whole process. He was pretty sure that his parents would want results from all the psychiatric sessions he had with Dr. Mitchell, and this whole solo trip to help himself get over—he shook his head. Daniel didn't want to go there, not yet. Some small part of him knew he had to come to grips with what happened, and it had to be soon. But the rest of him rebelled against that small, reasonable nature, and it terrified him.

It terrified him that he knew exactly what he had to find, but he was too smart to believe he would find it here.

He had taken the bus and was walking back to the apartment almost an hour later, trying to snap the thoughts out from his head, when a brown-haired man sidled up next to him, having seemed to jog to catch up with him. Daniel instantly tensed – he had read about some ploys in just about any tourist destination – as he turned to the man almost defensively.

"Hey, hey, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," the man said apologetically, putting up his hands in a gesture of surrender, and Daniel found himself relaxing slightly. The man before him seemed to be an American tourist as well, his large knapsack and casual attire reminding Daniel of his own when he arrived less than a day ago. "You seemed to… I just wanted to know if you knew where Taranto Road is?"

"I… yes, I do. I'm headed there," Daniel answered in clipped tones.

The stranger's brown eyes brightened. He smiled as though Daniel had given him a Christmas present early, and clapped his hands once. "Oh, that's great, man!" he said happily. "D'you… d'you mind if I walk with you?" he continued, almost hesitantly, as he tried to gauge Daniel's reaction.

That quietly persistent instinct that usually told him to make smart decisions – in this case, say no – seemed to be awfully quiet as Daniel surveyed the rest of the stranger. They were about the same height and lanky build, but the similarities ended there. His companion's brown hair and brown eyes starkly contrasted his own ash blonde hair and blue eyes, and he thought that the stranger's skin was a strange shade of olive, colorful compared to his own pale shade. He found himself nodding mutely as the stranger broke into a smile, dimples creasing his strange face, and Daniel found himself wondering if the stranger was a beautiful one. He couldn't seem to decide just yet.

"How far away are we?" the brown-haired man asked a couple of minutes into their silent pace.

"Seven to ten minutes, maybe," Daniel responded.

"Well, since we're walking together for couple of minutes at least—" the stranger held out a hand for Daniel to shake. "I'm Jack. Jack Wilder."

Daniel glanced at the outstretched hand for a split second before giving his companion a tight-lipped smile and shaking it. "Daniel Atlas."

"It's good to meet you, Danny," Jack said cheerfully.

Daniel was about to correct Jack, but the other man was looking at him with such an earnest smile that he found himself saying instead, "You're not about to con me and steal my wallet, are you?" He grimaced at how roughly he had blurted the question. "Oh, I… sorry."

Jack, however, seemed to find it funny, laughing quietly for some moments and shaking his head. "Don't worry about it, man. I mean, strange city, weird and overly friendly stranger who just happens to be headed in your direction – it's textbook conman," he acknowledges with a smile as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a pocketbook and flashing what Daniel saw was his passport. "But no, I'm perfectly safe, as you can see. Just another tourist in the prettiest city in the world." Jack fake-swooned at the last statement, causing Daniel to smile slightly.

"All right, all right," Daniel acquiesced. "I had to make sure."

"How long are you here for, Danny?"

Daniel shrugged. "Five days. And you?"

"Same here," Jack responded enthusiastically. "Have you done much sightseeing already?"

"I just got here less than a day ago, so no," Daniel said. "But I… I did see the Opera House from afar. That's where I came from when you saw me."

"Oh," Jack said, his gaze softening as he looked to the distance. "How did you like it?"

Daniel was tempted to act cool about it, pass it off as just another sight to see, but somehow, he couldn't lie to this stranger – not about this. "It's… it's something else," he said quietly. "Like something outside of someone's perfect imagination – which, I suppose, it was."

Jack looked at him, and Daniel felt his cheeks burn – he wondered at that moment where those words came from, and why he had chosen to blurt out something that reeked of sentimentality to someone he met barely ten minutes ago. Far from poking fun at what he said, though, Jack nodded seriously, his smile extremely gentle this time. "I can't wait to see it myself. I've heard it has that kind of effect on you."

Daniel nodded mutely, unsure what else to say, finding some relief as he gestured to a small brick building a few meters away. "That's me. This is Taranto Road."

Jack's eyes widened slightly as he checked his phone. "Oh, no way, we got the same host?"

"Did we?" Daniel asked, something in him fluttering nervously.

"Number 11?" When Daniel nodded mutely, Jack broke into a wonderful smile, as though this was the best thing to happen to him. "Then yes, we totally did!"

The next minute closing the distance between themselves and their apartment was spent in silence, but Daniel wondered why it wasn't as heavy as the silences he was used to. It seemed quite light, and – if he dared think – companionable and pleasant. He shook his head – of all the places to think that silence with a stranger could be nice, he scoffed at himself. Joy, their host, was surprisingly still awake ("I was working on Chrissie's reviewers anyway, and oh, it's nice to meet you, Jack!"), and excused herself for a few minutes before she showed Jack to his room.

"Anyway, I'll just—" Daniel gestured towards the direction of his own room while Jack waited for Joy to return.

"Oh," Jack said dumbly, something in his brown eyes dimming slightly – or was that just Daniel's imagination? "Well… thanks, man, for taking me here."

Something large and awkward hung between them as Daniel nodded stiffly, unsure of what to say. "No problem," he said tersely. He looked around once, as though his environment could give him an answer to a question he wasn't even sure of. "Well… you enjoy Sydney. I suppose I'll see you around."

Jack nodded, a half-smile on his face. "I will. You too."

Daniel nodded, shifting his weight on his left foot, before smiling one final time and turning his back on Jack. He took several quiet breaths, telling himself to calm down, wondering what it was that bothered him all the way down the hall in front of his room. He had just turned the doorknob to let himself when he heard his name being called out from the other end of the hallway.

"Danny!"

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and turned to look back at Jack, who was striding towards him hurriedly. He quirked an eyebrow, willing himself to play it cool. "Yeah?" he asked.

"If you… if you were okay to have a temporary travel buddy for the next three days, I was wondering if you'd like to go around the city together. We'd cover a lot more then," Jack offered hopefully.

Daniel smiled coolly. "You sure you don't just need someone to take photos of you in the landmarks?"

"You found me out," Jack deadpanned. "That is, in fact, my whole reason for asking you around. I need someone to take some shots of my gorgeous self admiring the view."

June 5, 2017

Daniel was surprised that he said yes to Jack's offer the night before. What surprised him even more, however, was how good a companion Jack turned out to be – he had spent the whole morning and most of the afternoon with the brown-haired man without feeling the need to break away or to even strangle him, something that he thought wasn't naturally him. People perplexed him most of the time – irritated him, even – and he was wondering if this was just the positive side of the whole vacation.

"Sorry?" Daniel asked, snapping out of his slight reverie, realizing too late that Jack was talking.

Jack mock-pouted, his phone in hand. "I can't believe you just missed my commentary on how this—" he gestured to an unassuming and small building next to them, "—became the first hospital in this lovely city."

"Aren't you the history buff," Daniel said flatly. "Tell me again, what's the name of this building?"

"Well, anyway, moving on to the next attraction," Jack parried, narrowing his eyes at Daniel. "You better make sure you're paying close attention to me next time."

Despite himself, he felt a smile come on to his face. Since when did he appreciate the more idiotic things in life, Daniel thought to himself as he rolled his eyes in response. "You know what, we're doing the free tours tomorrow. I think we've done enough winging for today," he said in what he hoped was a teasing tone.

The whole day was spent flitting from one site to another, taking in the beauty of each stop and (Jack) occasionally sharing little tidbits of information that he would Google on the spot, seeing as neither of them seemed to come to appreciate the history of it all. They had finally decided to stop for a late lunch close to their apartment, choosing a relatively empty burger joint and seating themselves next to the window.

Once they've placed their respective orders and seated themselves, Daniel was about to open his phone when he noticed Jack ostensibly switch off and pocket his own. He raised his eyebrows at his companion. "That's something new," he commented as he followed suit.

"Hey, I'm in Sydney with a fellow tourist I met in the apartment we both checked in to. I'm not about to spend the time I have on Facebook, Tweeting, Instagramming, or whatever," Jack said easily.

"You forgot Snapping," Daniel said instantly.

"Aren't you the little social media bunny!" the brown-haired man countered playfully.

Daniel grimaced. "Uh, no. Bad mental image."

"Maybe for you," Jack chuckled as he took a sip from his coffee. "I think it's hilarious."

"Shut up," Daniel rebuked, but there was no spite in his voice. "Well, we kept our phones, the one thing in a ten-mile radius that we could have used to avoid talking face-to-face about real things… what's up?" he asked, some part of him curious.

Jack shrugged. "I don't know, man, there's no manual for this," he joked. "Let's start with the basic question: what brings you here, Danny?"

Daniel flinched, wondering why the simplest question had to be the most difficult one to answer. He opened his mouth, wondering where to start, but finding himself closing it after a few failed attempts.

"No, shit, sorry about that, we don't have those questions, then," Jack quickly backpedaled apologetically. "I just—"

Jack fell silent as Daniel shook his head and cleared his throat. "No, I… sorry, I just didn't know how to start. The beginning isn't that… simple," he explained lamely. Jack said nothing, waiting for Daniel to find his bearings and the words that seemed to evade him. They stayed that way for a few minutes, then Daniel nodded to himself and continued. "I guess I'll start with the end. I… I lost my best friend three months ago."

Red hair in the dim light seemed to shine nonetheless, and she was dancing like there was no tomorrow, laughing as she looked at him, her green eyes emerald in the evening.

"What happened?" Jack prompted.

"Accident," Daniel said, his voice tight, his eyes burning.

The world was spinning around, one slow turn after the other. He couldn't move, but he knew he was awake, and he saw her eyes, the beautiful green eyes, dimming as the lights faded into nothing.

"I'm sorry," the brown-haired man said quietly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Daniel shook his head, quickly closing his eyes and giving Jack a pained smile as he opened them. "No, it's… it's fine. She…" he trailed off, realizing there was not a lot that he could say about Henley (but that's not true, Atlas, you know it, there's a million and five things you can say about Henley – she was beautiful and kind and infuriating and mad and perfect—).

"She wanted to come here," Daniel finished lamely, wondering in his mind if it was at all true.

"Would she have liked it here?" Jack asked earnestly.

Jack's question caught him off-guard – he was ready for some standard 'she would have liked it here', and he was ready for the savage internal monologue he was about to have about how Jack didn't know Henley, and how Jack could have possibly said what he did. But it was a question, one that he asked Daniel to answer for him if he wanted to, and he realized that – somehow – Jack Wilder was a touch different from the standards of sympathy.

"Depends on what we would have done," Daniel responded, and he felt something in him lighten up as he came to a realization. "Hen would have liked to go somewhere wild – she was a bit of a nature girl. Anything with water – beaches, rivers, waterfalls… she'd much be on a cliff overlooking the ocean than having burgers in a commercial place."

Jack smiled with him, squeezing Daniel's shoulder once before letting go. "That sounds like great fun," he acknowledged, and – again – Daniel noted how Jack didn't give commentary on the little he knew about Henley. He mulled over it for the next quiet minutes, and he found that he appreciated it.

Without warning, a few silent tears spilled out of his eyes, tears that he swore bore the acrid sting and smell of being held back for too long. There was only a slow beat that kept him from completing falling apart – perhaps it was the pounding of his eardrums, or the beating of his pulse. No one seemed to notice him, but Daniel realized as he looked around, unseeing, that he didn't actually care. For the first time, color seemed so much sharper, and his senses seemed to be on overdrive – the warm and comforting smell of burgers tickled his nose, the sound of laughter called out to him, and the perfect weather seemed to caress every pore of his skin. The world seemed to disappear around him, and he was surprised that he still saw – quite clearly – the companion next to him.

He looked at Jack, who had carefully turned to observe the surroundings with great interest. Jack's hands were tapping a steady rhythm of the table, and Daniel realized two things: Jack had never once reached out to give him a comforting gesture, and that the rhythm his companion was tapping out was the beat that kept him company as he lost himself for a short while just moments before. It gave Daniel a good feeling he couldn't quite put his finger on: it by no means erased that gap inside, but it was a start. A spectacular start, in fact.

"Is that your idea of fun as well? Nature?" Daniel asked lightly, bringing the conversation back to the present, to which Jack gracefully helped keep it there for the next few hours.

For the first time in months, Daniel thought how beautiful the lack of silence was in the next few hours with his companion.

I choose to love you in silence, for in silence I find no rejection.