This is my very first fic in the history of the world, a one shot AU Dacey that popped into my head and begged for freedom and recognition.
Had it been any other girl on God's green Earth, Danny might've chalked it up to coincidence. But that wasn't the case.
He had a hard time believing that chance was the only force at play when he felt the atmosphere suddenly buzz with electricity. Ever since they entered McNally Park, this slightly anxious sensation had swarmed his nerve endings. He and the guys only took this detour because their usual sidewalk route through downtown Green Grove was under construction. If a repaved walkway didn't have such high priority then maybe they'd be strolling past Johnnycake's right now, instead of a lush bloom of Azaleas. It was a very small deviation from the norm that wouldn't have phased most, but almost immediately set Danny's mind racing.
"Cheated? Me?" Cole grinned incredulously, "Seriously dude?"
Tyler tried to hide his frustration with a smirk and some friendly teasing, but an intense nicotine craving had severely compromised his game earlier and made the loss that much more irritating. He'd definitely remember to bring his cigarettes to next week's two-on-two game, "Yes I'm fucking serious! Since when is traveling legal?! That's-"
"Oh bullshit I was travelling!"
"- fucking basketball 101! Holding the ball in your hands and running with it has never been allowed in the history of the game!" The close-cropped blonde grinned as he crawled under Cole's skin.
"Whatever man." he waved him off.
Rico was a little ways ahead of the gang, weaving lazy S-curves on his skateboard, "Yeah Cole," he called, "for a second I didn't know if we were playing basketball or football it was really confusing."
"Bullshit!" Cole shouted before entering into a loud but good-natured rant. Tyler and Rico shared a ridiculous air-five before attempting to drown out Cole's dispute.
All three of the guys had noticed Danny's silence but none acknowledged it. Ever since 1st grade they could occasionally find Danny drifting aimlessly into his thoughts. And even now, all 19-20 years old moderately mature, they still couldn't retrieve him from the depths he slipped under so easily. So whenever they found him in this state of being present enough to laugh at jokes, follow conversation, respond when prompted, and even spin a basketball on his finger, but all the while subconsciously out to lunch, the boys simply let him be. That was just Danny's way.
Even if they had shut up about that morning's basketball game and attempted to decipher the world as Danny did, it wouldn't have made any difference. They couldn't possibly feel the remarkably sudden perceptiveness he did. They couldn't understand the strange pull Danny had felt on entering the park; as if the very threads of time and circumstance were weaving together faster, tighter. He absentmindedly brushed his hand against the spinning basketball to maintain momentum. His brown eyes drifted along the winding cement path that scraped against 3 pairs of hightops and 4 skateboard wheels. Trees stretched and reached, flowers stared up at him pleadingly and, for a second, he considered making an "I'm sorry" bouquet for-
An intense prickling of awareness up the back of his neck suddenly jostled Danny's introspection. He looked up and to the right, eyes trained marginally over his shoulder to a small playground not 40 feet away.
She was sitting on the swings. And, although he was far away and a labyrinthine jungle gym partially obstructed the view, his lips parted with a sigh of recognition.
"You alright man?"
Danny turned his head at the sound of Cole's voice and realized that they had all stopped walking; the basketball no longer rotating but sitting still in his hands.
"Yeah Desai what's up?" Rico flipped his board to an upright position.
For a second, Danny's quick mind faltered as it rushed with thoughts of her.
"Uh yeah." he gripped the ball, "You guys can go on ahead I'll catch up later."
"You sure?" Tyler's eyebrow rose inquisitively, creating that mass of deep creases along his forehead that his girlfriend, Jo, loved.
Danny considered the short distance between him and his friends. They had gone about 2 more feet before realizing he wasn't just mentally elsewhere but also physically absent. He forced himself not to glance at her before answering them.
"Positive. I'll meet up with you guys at Phoebe's party, that's still happening tonight right?" The trio mumbled affirmatively and Danny nodded, "Ok cool yeah I'll see you guys then alright."
He tossed the ballot Cole who caught it wordlessly. They all knew better than to question Danny further because they had all caught a glimpse of the girl on the swing too.
Cole shrugged, "Alright man we'll see ya."
"Don't you stay out too late now young man." Rico put on his best southern accent, "Ya'lls know we worry boutcha."
"Hey Ty do me a favor and get him the hell away from me." Danny laughed, already walking backwards slowly.
Skateboard in hand, Rico responded with a silent two-finger salute before moving on with the other two stooges.
And there it was again, the unmistakable pull of something potentially gigantic. He found himself approaching her with extreme caution, as if she was a deer, skittish and wary and ready to take off at any second. He had been friends and...other things with her long enough to know that, around him, she could be all that stuff.
The swish of grass beneath his shoes transitioned to crunching sand. But she knew he was there way before then. She was victim to the winding threads and subconscious pull too. They had always had a connection more magnetic than anything, in both gravitational attraction and undeniable electricity. Her long dark hair curtained around her face as she stared down at the sand. Even when his slow, deliberate footsteps grew closer, louder, deafening, the girl couldn't look at him. She tried, in vain, to make her relentless tears and unavoidable sniffling less obvious.
The swing set shook slightly as yet another young adult settled in beside her. She immediately turned her head away, the last shreds of dignity tethered to him at least not seeing her cry, even if he could already hear it. The two sat in silence for minutes that didn't necessarily seem longer, just heavier.
"I thought about it." he finally spoke, choosing not to acknowledge her tears right away, "I thought about it and I'd do it all over again."
She scoffed but refused to look at him, no matter how heart wrenching the subject matter. Her teary, light brown eyes managed to make out a Balsam Poplar tree's blurry form. Their Poplar tree; a leafy species that was fast-growing and short-lived, just like another deep-rooted thing of theirs she could think of. Those branches had witnessed him try to kiss her, those leaves had seen her push him away.
"What the hell are you doing Danny?! I have a boyfriend and you know that! Jesus Christ we are not together and we never were together! Can you just stop and think for once in your life instead of acting on impulse all the time!"
Sure they had gotten caught up in the moment a few times before, deep kisses and thrilling sex. But that was before Danny's lies and Archie's sweet-talk. Minutes after their heated exchange under the Poplar, Lacey was leaning against its smooth trunk, watching him walk away.
That was 6 days ago. They hadn't spoken since.
And now here he was telling her that, impulse or no, he still would've cradled her face in his trembling hands and attempted to kiss her into oblivion that night.
"Lace." he breathed a name as beautiful as the woman who owned it.
She reached up to grip the chains of her swing, grasping for stability. But the tears weren't stopping and she couldn't look at him yet.
"Lacey." she heard him stand and approach, causing a wave of panic to roar through her. Lacey instantly got up and was 1, 2, and a half steps away before Danny had time to react. His fingers held tightly to her wrist.
"...He cheat on you again?"
"What!?" the sharp turn from consternation to anger was enough to make her look at him. Granted, she only angled her head partially in his direction, glaring daggers at him out of the corner of her left eye, as if he didn't deserve her full gaze. The white of her eye was a translucent red, the area just under her lower lashes glistened with residual tears. Quickly realizing her mistake, Lacey turned away immediately. But it was too late. He had seen all of it.
"Let go of me Danny." She sneered through clenched teeth. Archie had only cheated her once and he was severely intoxicated at the time. Danny bringing it up now just made her feel stupid and pissed off. Besides, he swore he'd never stray again, especially after Lacey had basically destroyed both his cell phone and that blonde slut with her bare hands. The anger mounted within her but she wasn't sure if it was from her boyfriend's indiscretion or Danny's hold preventing her escape.
"Lace gimme a fucking break ok. What's the point of avoiding me huh?" he released her wrist as his voice remained calm but took on a frustrated edge, "It's not gonna make me love you any less."
A moment to let the words sink in, to let her retreating aggravation settle quietly. She softened. And before her brain truly knew what was smart or foolish, she went back to the swing and sat.
"Why do you have to say shit like that?" Lacey sighed, still staring off at the Poplar. There was a deeper crack in her armor than she was used to and the tears seeped out in a seemingly endless stream. She still couldn't face him. The swing set creaked in compliance as Danny reclaimed his seat next to hers. He took a deep breath before racing towards the most prominent issue at hand.
"Why are you crying?"
She felt her inner workings come tumbling down, slowly at first then in one resounding crash. That's what Danny does to her. He weakens her foundation even when she manages to keep the tough exterior intact. Lacey gently wiped her face again.
Danny waited as patiently as he could. He swallowed the urge to ask how Archie had fucked up this time; a whirlwind of nervous energy, born from sheer restraint, manifested itself in his extremities. Growing more and more impatient, he tapped his feet to an unknown rhythm and drummed his fingertips along the tarnished chains. Beside him, Lacey finally released a big sigh of preparation before turning to face him.
She watched with teary eyes as every prediction she made in the last 43 seconds of silence came true. His expression fell one component at a time; micro-movements at the corners of his mouth, his cheeks, his jawline, his eyelids, and, finally, his eyebrows almost crashing into one another, creating sunken furrows across his forehead. She let her gaze flicker to where his hands now gripped the swing chains and noticed that his knuckles screamed almost paper white.
Danny, for his part, had always hated seeing any female cry, especially Lacey. But he could've never fully prepared himself for the way she looked just then. Her eyes were identical, both bloodshot and watery, except for the right one. A crooked, C-shaped area of maroon-ish skin curved around the inner half of her right eye and almost threatened to swell up onto the bridge of her nose. Lacey self consciously licked her lips, wincing when the tip of her tongue touched a spot of not quite dry blood on the naturally plump lower one. She sighed as if irritated and stared into Danny's brown eyes.
"That asshole hit me."
He felt something akin to rage, or maybe it was just plain old rage itself, start to claw at his chest but he remained still and silent. She waited for him to explode, to chastise her, to say 'I told you so' or...something! But he just sat there, his eyes tracing her injuries. She watched his entire body grow even more tense if that was possible. And after what felt like a lifetime of seconds, Danny finally gained enough control to unclench his jaw. When he finally spoke his voice was so low and thick with fury that he nearly choked on it.
"I'll kill him."
The nerve endings along her spine seemed to flash freeze, sending a very violent chill stabbing down her back. She could tell by the stiffness of his vocal cords and the deliberate enunciation of that second word, Danny's threat was anything but idle. It was in that near blood-curdling moment, Lacey finally allowed herself to believe that Danny really was in love with her. And the realization made her heart burst in slow motion.
"Don't say that." she wrapped her hand around his tightly clenched fist as it rattled the swing's chain. His eyes never left hers.
"Lacey. I'm going to kill him."
The words even colder and slower than before, her countenance rocketed to complete and utter terror in an instant. If Danny killed Archie then he'd go to jail forever or some undetermined amount of time that would feel torturously like forever. And Lacey, for the sake of the sudden heavy beatings inside her chest, knew she couldn't possibly survive such a thing.
"Danny." she angled herself closer, albeit a bit awkwardly, in the swing and leveled her gaze with his. Her voice shook despite the best of efforts. "...please."
She was crying again but Danny wasn't sure if it was because of Archie or him. Still...with a degree of restraint and self-control that almost ruptured his blood vessels, Danny inhaled deeply enough to nearly pop his lungs, then exhaled. He attempted to push all the fury, the scorching heat, the suffocating indignation, the vivid images of Archie's merciless homicide, all of these potentially destructive elements out of his body in that long tremulous breath. It seemed to only dampen his anger insignificantly. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the feel of Lacey's hand on his. He inhaled. A breeze wafted potent traces of her shampoo up his nose. He held his breath. She rubbed her thumb across his knuckles. He exhaled. The rabid monster crawling up his chest cavity began to subside. He inhaled again, eyes squeezed shut, as a thin sheet of sweat condensed across his wrinkled forehead. He exhaled while murderous thoughts faded. "Danny please." her words echoed in his brain. Inhale. Her fingerprint's ridges drug across the hills and valleys of his knuckles. Exhale. Another film of sweat drapes over his forehead and began to run. The softest hands in the world covered his, strongly contrasting the heavy chain pressing painfully into his palm. Inhale. Blood suddenly began to pound in his ears. The raging animosity started to rise again like vomit. Exhale. It wasn't working. Inhale. He stood up.
"Danny!"
She followed after him as he stalked across the sand. He hadn't even reached grass yet before Lacey finally caught up and blocked his path, "Don't do this please I'm begging you!" her fists clenched his shirt tightly, "I am literally BEGGING you right now Danny!" Lacey couldn't tell if her words were even reaching him. He stood there staring straight ahead; every muscle in him taut, debating whether to honor her pleas or beat Archie until he was unrecognizable. His body paused in a stalemate. His jaw ached from clenching, but he lacked the ability to open it.
"Danny please," tears streamed freely as she maintained her determined expression, "I can't lose you do you fucking understand!? I can't! If you go to jail I'm going to be really fucking pissed off! You got that asshole!?"
She was screaming in his face. Her dark hazel eyes filled his field of vision as she stood on tippy toe. Her shampoo, perfume, and strawberry yogurt breath rushed the length of his respiratory tract. She bunched her fists even tighter into the front of his shirt causing it to rise and expose a sliver of his abdomen. Lacey was bombarding Danny's senses, ready to kick his ass to the best of her abilities if it meant thwarting this lethal purpose.
Danny gradually came back to himself, unable to maintain such intense fury when the woman he loved was saturating his faculties and breathlessly proclaiming how much she needed him. He released a breath he'd been holding for some unknown amount of time and let his lungs try to make sense of things.
"Just calm down alright. Please." Lacey slowly found herself able to move him back towards the swings. "Good. Breathe baby."
His mind zeroed in on the way she let 'baby' slip from her lovely lips so simply. Still unable to speak, he allowed her to push him back. 1 step, 2 steps...
"Good yeah just relax and breathe. Archie's not worth it."
All movement ceased at that name. He finally let his eyes truly focus on hers and not the fading but violent mental images. Lacey held her breath until Danny finally spoke.
"I told you he was a fucking asshole. I...told you that." the rough edge of his voice was more hurt than frustration. That combined with the harsh validity of his words let loose a throbbing ache in her heart. He stared down at her as tension was quickly replaced with disappointment and agony. The pain of seeing Lacey, the girl he couldn't do without, physically abused seemed to rip something vital from him. She watched him deflate in her hands, shoulders sagging heavily, forehead wrinkles forming a more pleading expression. "I told you that, when you got tired of him treating you like shit, tired of not being loved the way you ought to be, to give me a chance. Why won't you let me love you Lace?"
She felt herself shiver at the huskiness of his voice. That wasn't anger anymore, it was need. It was desire and amorous intent that might've cracked her armor beyond repair...maybe...
His eyes searched her vulnerable insides with relentless intensity. Her knees nearly buckled but she wouldn't tell him that. Instead she stood there with her hands still fisted in his red t-shirt. But things had shifted, and she didn't know if she wanted to continue pushing him back or to lovingly pull him closer.
Then, before she could talk herself out of it, "1...2...3."
Lacey whispered under her breath then impulsively stole Danny's.
It wasn't a deep, passionate, let's have sex kiss. Her lips apologized to his first and foremost, with soft but purposeful contact that didn't agitate her lip injury. Then they lingered there at that same gentle pressure. Her palms rested flat against his pecs and were soon numbed by his fluttering heartbeat. It was a sweet kiss, full of promise, full of sugary adoration.
And with a tiny suction cup sound, it was over before Danny could employ his wanting hands. His eyes popped open and there she was with one of those shy half-smiles that were so rare many believed they didn't exist. Danny did though because he had seen them before, he had caused them before. On many occasions he 'd drummed up within her that unique rhythm of quickened heartbeats required to draw it out past the Lacey Porter armor and into the light of day. There it was now, right in front of him, for the first time in many months, being offered to him sweetly.
As she walked past him, her hands slid slowly across his chest. He followed her silently with his eyes as she resumed her position on the swing. Something finally stirred in him when Lacey kicked her feet out and began to swing back and forth, higher and higher. By the time he realized she was grinning at him, he was grinning at her too.
The two didn't speak as Danny sat in his swing and began to kick out his feet. It was silent in McNally Park except for the squeak of that old swing set. At such heart-stopping heights, they didn't need words.
End.
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