Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or any of the familiar characters depicted in this story.
A/N: I do not hate Danny he unfortunately became the victim of my muse, I quite love Danny actually! But warning this does deal with unrequited love!
Danny's seven when he meets Stiles Stilinski and nine when he realizes that the reason his stomach flutters and his palms sweat around the other boy is because he likes him. It's not until he's twelve that he really understands what being gay is and what it means for him; that he's attracted physically and emotionally to other males, the most prominent being Stiles. He knows that homophobia exists in the world but it seems like Beacon Hills belongs in some sort of homophobia free zone because he sees gay and lesbian couples all the time. Danny's also pretty sure that Mark Dove, the lacrosse captain at Beacon Hills High, used to be Marci Dove and no one ever gives him shit for it. So as puberty hits and people develop Danny decides at thirteen that it's time to come out. It's a testament to their friendship that Jackson just asks Danny if he thinks he's hot before Danny tells him that Jackson isn't his type. Because he's started to realize he likes kind of awkward, lanky, slightly nerdy guys with wide honey colored eyes and mousy brown hair (he tries not to think too hard as to why, though).
So Danny watches and pines from afar as the years go by and never once mentions that he's got a crush the size of Mount Rushmore on Stiles Stilinski of all people. Mainly because he knows it's useless pining, everyone knows about the torch that Stiles carries for Lydia Martin, but the feelings don't go away even though he keeps pushing them down. It's not until freshman year and Danny finds himself on first line of the lacrosse team while Stiles warms the bench that they really start to converse. Of course, one of the questions Stiles always asks is if he's attractive to gay guys. Danny wants to say yes but he stops himself every time because A) he'd be admitting slightly his attraction to the other boy and B) it would mean quite possibly no more talking to Stiles. He puts up a good front though, shows that he's friends with Stiles but sometimes acts annoyed with him, he's pretty sure Jackson's starting to see through it but thankfully his best friend never says anything. It doesn't take long after lacrosse season has started for Coach Finstock to realize that even though Jackson's only fifteen he's the best on the team. It takes two days for Lydia to ask Jackson out and another four for Danny to find himself on the receiving end of a date with Owen Peters.
So time moves on, he dates Owen then Jake then Simon then Louis before the last one sticks for a while and he actually starts to fall in love with someone who can return the feelings. It's not like the way he feels for Stiles, Danny's pretty sure that he won't feel that way for anyone else which he secretly thinks is pathetic. After Christmas of sophomore year, though, things start to get pretty weird in Beacon Hills and to Danny it looks like Stiles and Scott are at the center of it. Somehow, he finds himself in Stiles' bedroom tracing a phone number while also staring at Stiles' very hot cousin Miguel changing shirts, which Danny is pretty sure Stiles has Miguel do so Danny will agree to help him out. It's not for almost two more months in which Lydia gets attacked, Jackson starts to act freaky, Louis dumps him, and he mysteriously gets paralyzed at Jungle for him to realize that Miguel actually wasn't Stiles' cousin. The only reason he finds out is because he's out with his older sister who's visiting for the weekend when she points Miguel out on the street calling him Derek Hale and explaining how she used to have the biggest crush on him in middle school.
So time goes on and Danny is left to wonder why Stiles had Derek Hale in his room and how Stiles even knows Derek but he sort of forgets it when Jackson dies. Except it turns out that Jackson didn't really die and they were able to save him but everyone thought he was dead. At the end of the day all he really knows is that Jackson and Lydia are back together, Scott isn't dating Allison anymore (which really Danny was totally not fooled when they said they weren't), and he still has a huge crush on one Stiles Stilinski. Summer comes and goes before fall arrives again and other odd things happen around Beacon Hills but in the midst of it Danny meets Nathan. He actually starts to think he's getting over his crush on Stiles; it's become increasingly obvious that Stiles, it seems, has once and for all put his torch for Lydia Martin away. Winter sweeps in meaning that the lacrosse season starts and this year Stiles makes it onto first line as well. Danny can't help but notice as he looks at the other boy that he's no longer as gangly as he remembers, but has transformed into being insanely attractive. Not that Danny wasn't attracted to Stiles already, he totally was, but now Stiles is just that much more attractive than before.
It's not until March that he overhears what he refers to as The Conversation and his whole entire thought that he was getting over Stiles flies out the window. It happens in the locker rooms after practice, everyone is talking and changing but for some reason Scott and Stiles' conversation just drifts over the rest of the noise. At first it doesn't seem like anything of importance, Scott has been talking to Allison again, Stiles' Dad is working that night so Scott should come over, but then it gets into an area that very much intrigues Danny.
"Speaking of your Dad did you tell him last night?" Scott asks.
"Tell him what? Because there are several topics that you could be referring to one of which very much has an impact on you as well as myself," Stiles replies.
"Dude you know what I mean," Scott pauses here and Danny can picture that he's looking around before he speaks again, voice lower but Danny strains his ears to hear, "how did coming out to him go?"
"Oh, you mean the whole, 'hey there's a 50/50 chance I'm going to marry a dude' news? Yeah, he took it pretty well, not that I was expecting any less."
"We both know that it's more 80/20 in favor of dudes, my friend," Scott says back and Danny hears Stiles chuckle before he focuses back on getting changed.
The news that Stiles could potentially actually reciprocate his feelings sticks with him no matter how much he tries to push the news away. He's happy with Nathan; he's the first guy that really seems to like Danny for more than being hot and a good lacrosse player, so he pushes it all away. Besides, he won't hope for anything because Stiles isn't actually out to the school at large. He refuses to be some sort of secret; he's been out for so long that he doesn't even really think he was ever in the closet. Weeks go by until May hits and with it Stiles comes out of the bisexual closet. Rumors swirl about a few people seeing him out a couple of towns over making out with some guy, and while Stiles doesn't confirm that part he does admit he's bisexual. Danny hates himself a little when his stomach fills with lead at the news of Stiles possibly making out with someone else and he kind of hates himself for it because he has Nathan.
School ends and summer starts and Danny gets the opportunity to spend it with his grandparents in Hawaii, which he very much needs once he breaks up with Nathan. He doesn't really want to do it, but he figures it's for the best if he can't completely commit because his mind is constantly occupied with Stiles. So he spends his summer learning how to surf and meeting new guys and once and for all deciding that when school starts again he's going to actually ask out Stiles Fucking Stilinski. The first day comes rapidly but he chickens out because he just isn't all that sure that he should ask Stiles out, plus all day he hears rumors of everyone seeing Stiles at various places with some guy over the summer. The next two weeks go about the same but finally he tells himself that he'll ask Stiles out before the end of September and there's nothing else to say about it.
"Today you are going to ask out Stiles Stilinski, you're popular, you're hot, and you've seen Stiles staring before. You can do this Danny," he tells himself each morning and then the morning of September 30th dawns bright and early and Danny's deadline has hit. He drives to school, determined to ask Stiles out, and goes through his day with that same thought on his mind. His opportunity comes at the end of the day; it actually pretty much falls into his lap, when someone is shouting his name down the hallway.
"Danny, hey Danny wait up a second," he turns around to find Stiles slightly behind him.
"Oh, hey Stiles, what's up?"
"Not much. Just wondering when you wanted to meet for that English project, I've talked to Lydia and she can get working on it on Saturday."
"Saturday works for me, where'd you want to meet?" he asks, turning his head to stare at the other boy but realizing his gaze isn't on him, rather on something in the parking lot. He watches as Stiles breaks out into a grin before walking a little faster ignoring Danny's question.
Danny stops in his tracks, though, when he sees Stiles destination is a black Camaro with one Derek Hale leaning up against it. It's like a slow motion car wreck as he watches Stiles reach the older man and start talking before being pulled into what Danny can only think of as one of the hottest kisses he's ever witnessed.
"Oh man c'mon I have to see this at school now too?" he turns to the side to see Scott standing there, a slight look of annoyance and disgust on his face.
"Got something wrong with two dudes?" he asks, because he really didn't think that was an issue. Scott stares at him, surprised, before shaking his head.
"What? No, I just walk in on them making out all the time at Stiles' house. It's kind of like walking in on your parents."
"Your parents? Really?"
"In an odd sort of way, yeah. But I can't be too mad about it because he makes Stiles happy," Scott turns to him and gives him one of his crooked smiles.
"So they've been together a while?"
"Almost six months, although Stiles was hard core pining for a long time before anything happened. But anyways, I've got to get home. See you later Danny!" Scott leaves him standing there as the rest of the students continue to buzz around him and he lets himself feel the pain of being just too little too late after all.
A/N: Let me know what you think!