The image I used belongs/belonged to Thriscara. Although she may have disappeared off the face of the internet, she told me I could use it whenever I wanted and I'm glad I can still share it with some of you guys.
"Now remember to behave yourself Danny Boy." Mr. Goldo lectured.
"Will you just shut up! You make it sound like you're sending me off to summer camp!" Danny yelled in irritation.A small smirk formed on his partner's face as the teenager turned away in embarrassment.
Mr. Goldo actually had another important assignment for his work and no security was needed this time around. Really the older man wouldn't have minded taking Danny along as usual, but he schemed something better.
It had been a few weeks since Danny and Cherish had started talking. The battle with Faudo had ended a little while back and the two mamodo had really hit it off since then; that was obvious to Mr. Goldo. He saw the way Danny looked at her and he decided he do his son a favor and set them up, at least for the weekend. So instead of taking the teen with him like he normally would, he stated that there was no need for the boy's presence and that he should get out of his hair for now and go stay with someone else… Cherish and Nicole.
"It will just be for the weekend, I'll be back before you know it." Mr. Goldo went on.
"Pfft. That's what I'm afraid of." Danny groaned.
A small chuckle came from his human partner and then he waved goodbye and boarded the airplane. Danny merely scoffed and went back to the car he was borrowing for the weekend. After dropping Mr. Goldo off, he drove himself over to Cherish's place. Somehow he felt a bit unsettled, like he had been made fun of somehow, but at that moment he really was looking forward to seeing his girlfriend. At last the two of them would finally get to spend some quality time together, no obligations or obnoxious old men in the way; just them enjoying each other's company.
It took quite some time, but now Danny was only 5 minutes away from his destination. He felt himself getting kind of nervous, afraid that maybe this weekend would turn out to be awkward because he would be staying the night at Nicole's place. Swallowing the lump in his throat at the thought, Danny decided that he couldn't dwell on things like that. Everything would be fine… better then fine.
When the house came into sight, he parked and grabbed his bag, approaching the door cautiously, trying to think of the best thing to say. However, his thought process was interrupted before he could even knock on the door.
"Danny!" Cherish greeted from the doorway she had just opened, and hugged him immediately. A subtle blush crept upon his cheeks as he dropped his bag and wrapped his arms around her affectionately.
"Hey Cherish. Thanks for letting me stay the weekend." He laughed, breaking their embrace.
"Hmm, how many times do I have to tell you that it's no big deal?" She snickered, nudging him playfully. "Now here, I'll help you with that."
"No way, I got it." He insisted, picking his bag up and dashing inside before she could attempt to assist him.
"So stubborn…" Cherish sighed, shaking her head, but followed him in.
Setting it down, he greeted his host saying, "Hey there Nicole, how are you?"
Nicole smiled at her new guest and replied, "Danny it's good to see you again. I'm fine. So good of you to spend these next few days with us."
"Heh. No thank you for the invite." He responded but then sniffed the air, smelling something delicious. "Uh, what's that smell? It's amazing!"
Coming up behind him, Cherish added, "Oh that's dinner. I made it myself…"
"At least 10 portions I might add. Cherish knows you like to eat." Nicole grinned; seeing Danny's awestruck face.
He felt a little bit of drool forming inside his mouth so he quickly swallowed it and smiled realizing he was in for quite a treat; seeing as everything smelled perfect. "Can't wait! When's it ready?"
"Right about now. Perfect timing." Nicole replied, pulling out the giant fish from the oven while Cherish took care of all the side dishes. Danny tried to help, asking where the plates and silverware were so he could at least set the table but Cherish scolded him saying that he was the guest and he had better just sit quietly at the table and wait. Sulking, he complied and took a seat while watching the two girls prepare everything.
As expected, everything was delicious. Danny was quick to complement Cherish on her masterful cooking skills and he dug in without hesitation, enjoying every bite. His girlfriend smiled sweetly, happy he liked what she had prepared especially for him and she too and her partner started eating.
After dinner Nicole claimed she had work to do in her room and the couple was left alone. "You mind helping me with the dishes?" Cherish asked and Danny quickly responded, "Oh yeah of course," gathering up the plates on the table while Cherish turned on the water to fill up the sink.
The two of them were mostly quiet as Cherish washed the dirty dishes and Danny dried them off then clumsily searched for their place in the cabinets until Cherish had to tell him where they belonged.
"So uh… It's still pretty early, what do you want to do?" Danny asked sheepishly, unsure of their next move.
"We have some games if you'd like to play." Cherish responded pointing to the closet with all Nicole's old board games in them. Truthfully she wasn't sure of that was a dumb suggestion, but it was worth a shot. Maybe it would be fun?
"Yeah that sounds good." He agreed, looking over all the human games. They took turns picking out a few though they didn't know any, and pulled them out on floor where they sat on the carpet.
At first they attempted Monopoly, but soon enough it became way too confusing and the two mamodo gave up at trying to sort out human finances. Their next choice was Uno, and after reading the instructions it seemed simple enough. Taking turns laying the color of the card or the number of the one last played, it came down to Cherish only having one card left. She played a yellow 5 and grinned at Danny, sure if he didn't have some sort of drawing card to use against her he would lose; after all he four cards left while she only had 1… and it just so happened to be a wild card so no matter what he played it was over.
He took a moment to look over her playing choice and he smirked glancing down at his cards just slightly. "I was just waiting for you to play that."
Cherish's eyes widened as Danny played a yellow skip card and then 3 other skip cards of varied colors… and the last one was a green 10, the color of the last skip he had played.
"How did you get so many stupid skips? And why save them all for last?" Cherish growled, irritated that he had used such a cheap trick.
"Strategy." He replied smugly, holding his arms in the air while yelling, "I guess that's zero!"
She gave him an annoyed playful shove, after which he dramatically fell over and laughed, "Ow Cherish, how mean!"
"Oh shut it!" She giggled back, picking up the next game that was called Sorry.
"'Sorry'… that's its name." Danny observed, "Sounds pretty accurate for how you're gonna feel once we start playing."
Cherish raised her eyebrows and countered, "You think so? We'll see who's laughing after this. Winner takes all!"
"You're on." He agreed; a challenging smile plastered on his face.
The two mamodo read the rules and started playing, Cherish had the red pieces and Danny took the blue. The goal was to get all four of your pieces into the home zone where they were safe, and to get out of starting position you had to draw a 1 or a 2.
"Oh look, a one." Cherish said in a bored tone, and pulled her first piece out. Danny picked up his own card which read 5… not one that could get you out of the starting position. A few turns later, the red pieces kept moving forward with each new turn, while the blue ones didn't move an inch. Danny was starting to get irritated every time Cherish drew a 1 or 2 and he couldn't even draw anything to get him out.
It took a while but eventually he did, and the game really began. Unfortunatly Cherish already had 1 piece in the home space and the other in the safe zone so he was really far behind.
"Oh look a 2! Guess I'm out." He proclaimed, ready to get in the game.
"Oops I drew a Sorry card." Cherish snickered, showing Danny that with it she could take one of her pieces from start to take the place of his own piece.
With the flick of her wrist she knocked his blue piece out with a red one and grinned in smug satisfaction. "OH COME ON." He whined loudly, back to where he started in the first place.
Cherish of course won that round which resulted in a variety of grumbling from Danny. "You had to have cheated somehow…" He murmured.
"You're the one who shuffled the cards!" She pointed out, poking Danny on the forehead.
"It's just a game of luck… No skills required, that doesn't count!"
"Winner take all remember? I think those were the exact words you agreed to?"
Squinting at her, Danny put the game away as Cherish giggled at his childish anger when he lost. Of course he wasn't legitimately upset, just a sore loser.
Coming up behind him, she wrapped her arms around one of his and pressed her cheek against his shoulder saying, "Do you want to watch a movie now? Nicole has some pretty good ones."
Danny blushed at the sudden affection and replied quickly, "Sure, why not?"
"I'll go get one then." She confirmed and went over to the DVD's.
The mamodo boy scowled to himself, angry that he was so easily embarrassed. They were dating and he should be able to muster at least somewhat of a cool response to their loving contact. Sometimes though it was easy for him to remember how seemingly perfect Cherish was… beautiful, strong, sweet… and he couldn't help but get a bit flustered when she showed him affection. He knew he was fortunate, but he decided that he would make the best of this time they had and only show resolve.
"How about this one?" She asked, holding up one of her favorites. Danny had no complaints with it of course, not knowing what it was. The two of them sat down together on the sofa, a blanket covering them. Cherish was curled up leaning into Danny while he wrapped his arm around her with his own head laid softly on hers.
He loved moments like this, just sitting quietly with her. When she was this close it was easy to smell her… something like flowers in the morning covered in dew and crisp air. There was also a hint of sunshine in her scent… Like warmth and light combined.
Cherish also enjoyed just being near Danny. He had the habit of putting his arm around her… and emanated the essence of protection. It wasn't his outer strength that made her feel a sense of security, but his very being seemed full to the brim of it, and every time she saw it, it was for her. Somehow he had a way to make her at ease.
Sometimes bad memories came up… the teenage girl recalled the worst feeling of pain and fear she had ever endured. It had the power to crush her confidence and mood, and although she knew she had support from Ted and the other children, when Danny was with her all the troubles just melted away as if she wouldn't even have to fight it at all… he would in her stead.
She had often tried to name his scent as well, but never could quite find the accurate description she wanted. Taking in a long breath through her nose she thought about it again… It was sort of like some kind of wood, with an earthy summer forest sort of scent, almost unnoticeable because it blended so well. It always had a way of relaxing her with its subtitle presence. Truly it caused her headaches to try to figure it out, but it was calming and she liked being this close so she could just enjoy it.
After a few minutes Cherish heard Danny's breathing get louder, and she looked up to see his eyes closed and his mouth parted just slightly, obviously asleep. She smiled and stifled a giggle watching him doze off. "Maybe next time I'll pick out an action movie instead…" She thought, amused.
Cherish assumed Danny usually went to bed early even though it had just gotten dark outside a bit ago. Deciding that one of her favorite movies wouldn't be spoiled, she wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and snuggled into his chest, staring at the T.V. screen until the film ended.
After it was over she carefully set Danny's head on a pillow at the edge of the sofa and placed his feet up like she would often do when the children she took care of in the mamodo world slept in odd positions. Kneeling down after covering him with a blanket Cherish whispered goodnight and kissed him gently on the forehead before going off to sleep herself.
She got into bed after brushing her teeth and hair, taking off her hat and putting on her pajamas. Cherish really was glad Danny was here… She hoped to have just as much fun tomorrow as today had been and she slept soundly dreaming happy thoughts.
Yay chapter one. Brace yourself for more fluff when the next one arrives :3
