Danny took another swig of his beer, nearly falling backwards. He was in the pub alone yet again, as Nicholas had decided to ditch another night so he could work on paper work. Danny really needed to get Nicholas to switch off again and quick, otherwise he wouldn't be able to get him back. Danny got up and suddenly felt the warmth in his stomach from the booze and stumbled towards the pub door, clutching firmly to passing tables and chairs. The bartender watched him leave, a slight smile on his face. Danny Butterman, the most reckless police officer you could ever meet and people still found a way to love him.
Danny tried to shove his keys in the key slot on his car door but his vision was moving about slightly, plus he didn't have much control over his hands or even his limbs. His legs buckled and he was about to fall when he felt hands grab under his arms, pulling him up. He lay against someone in a limp position, though he was aware what was happening but just to drunk to care. He was pushed up to his feet
'Danny, I will take you home' he heard the familiar voice behind him say quietly
'Nicholas!' he said happily, turning round and wrapping Nick in a warm hug with his large arms.
'Heh, ok Danny' Nicholas pushed him back gently and Danny linked arms with his.
They proceeded down the pavement together, Danny occasionally stumbling or loosing control of his feet completely. Nicholas remembered the night he had met Danny and how he was walking down the same road to the police station. Now he was just walking Danny home. He had told Danny so many times not to drink and drive, but he never really grasped at what Nick was getting at. So Nicholas just gave up
'Nicholas, why did you come to get me?'
'Because knowing you Danny, being alone in a pup you would over do it on the drink'
'Oh yeah! Good point' Danny chuckled 'So why didn't you come out with me?'
'Because I had things to do' Nicholas said simply
'Yeah but, all you really do is water your peace lily' Nicholas furrowed his brow
'Yes, but I had other things to do tonight' Nicholas was getting kind of annoyed Danny kept prying, but he let him off
'Nicholas, wanna have a sleep over tonight?' Danny asked
'Err no, I think I will just leave you to it'
'Oh c'mon! I have crisps and doughnuts! I know how much you like doughnuts'
'I bet you have cornettos as well?' it was a rhetorical question, but Danny answered it anyway. And of course, it was a yes
'Typical'
Danny giggled a bit too much and fell to the side, loosing grip of Nicholas's arm and his foot shoved down the kerb. Nicholas sighed and took Danny back again, this time with a firmer grip.
They soon reached Danny's front gate and Nicholas let go of Danny and watched as he swayed side to side under the street lamp above. Danny gave a stupid smile, and Nicholas swallowed
'Are you sure you don't wanna come in? It'll be fun! It always is'
Danny touched Nicholas arm, a random act of affection. He could smell the beer on Danny's breath. He had been drinking quite a lot…maybe he should go in with him for a while, until he sobered up. He didn't want him to hurt himself
'Oh, alright then' Nicholas gave a defeated smile as Danny nearly yelped with joy and took his arm and pulled him up to the door. After bustling with the keys Nicholas took them from Danny's hands and opened the door for him.
Danny went straight to the kitchen, knocking over a vase as he went but Nicholas caught it in his hand and put it back. Nicholas went and sat down on the red sofa. Danny then brought through a few beers, a box of doughnuts and a big bag of crisps
'More beer, Danny?' Nicholas asked, smiling slightly
'Well yeah! Now, what film do you wanna watch?' he said after he had placed all the goods on the table in front of them.
He went to his DVD stand and opened it a bit to hard and it fell forward slightly. Nicholas stood up immediately, his hand-outstretched in case it toppled over. Danny had it secure against his person though, and pushed it back and laughed
'Bad boys 2?'
'Suppose' Nicholas sat down again and took a drink of his beer.
He watched Danny move in front of the small television and shove the disk in the player then move backwards and flop down next to Nick. He took the crisps and ripped them open, took one and moved the bag sideways towards Nicholas. Nick put his hand in the bag and took one and munched into it as Danny worked the TV remote and pressed play.
Nicholas had watched this film so many times with Danny, but it never seemed to get boring. He actually secretly enjoyed these moments with Danny, up close to him and watching a movie. He felt secure and knew he had a true friend by his side. He kept these thoughts to himself though, he didn't want to sound soft or like he needed anyone. But he couldn't help it; he had never met someone like Danny before.
He realized he was drifting off into space, and concentrated on the movie again. Though he really didn't need to, as he already knew what was going to happen anyway. He took a sneaky peak at Danny and saw he had a face of awe as he watched the gun fight, even though he had seen it so many times before and knew who was going to die.
Nicholas opened the box of doughnuts
'See! Told ya' Danny looked smug. Nicholas gave him a quirky look while biting into one. Danny took one from out the box and scoffed it down.
Nicholas then realized how close Danny was to him. He was sitting with his legs slightly parted and his left hand to the side and his other holding the box. He put it back on the table, before sinking down a little more. The other man felt so warm against him. He felt like he could fall asleep. He usually did fall asleep most nights. He looked at Danny's clock on the wall, and could just read 2am.
Danny slumped down a little when the romance scene came on. Nicholas knew Danny didn't like this scene, though he had no idea why. It was just a man fondling with another woman under her jumper, nothing to explicit. Maybe it made Danny feel uncomfortable…
'Danny?' Nicholas said suddenly
'Yeah' Danny replied half-heartedly
'Why do you hate this scene so much?'
Danny didn't reply until a little while later
'Because I do'
'Why? Its like one of the main parts of the story'
'I just don't like mushy stuff, that's all. I like gun fights'
'Yeah but Dan, there is a gun fight going around them'
'Yeah well they are in the middle of the screen'
'No they're not! They are at the side'
'Stop questioning me!' Danny snapped and Nicholas stopped speaking immediately.
Danny had never snapped at him like that before. What was the big deal? It was just an honest question…though he did feel quite uncomfortable after their little 'row'.
Nick didn't speak for about 10 minutes before he whispered
'Sorry…'
'Don't worry about it' Danny put a clumsy arm around his shoulder 'I shouldn't have snapped'
'I shouldn't have asked' Nicholas said sheepishly. Maybe Danny was hiding something he wasn't supposed to know…thoughts were racing through his head.
He didn't like the mushy scene (in fact it wasn't even mushy) between Bella and Matt. They were both of the different sex, and quite frankly once they had watched a film where two men were seen on screen feeling each other up and Danny didn't seem to mind.
'Danny, are you-' Nicholas stopped speaking immediately after he realized what he was going to say
'Am I what?' Danny sounded nervous
'Nothing'
'Yes I am gay, Nicholas'
There was a long silence between them.
'Oh…that's fine' Nicholas tried not to sound bothered, but it was hard not to
'I knew you wouldn't like it so I didn't tell you. Sorry I didn't say it before'
Danny was trying to sound as if it was the most natural thing in the world, though Nicholas could hear in his voice he was a bit uncomfortable for telling him like this.
The film finished and the credits rolled up the screen
'So Danny…how many men have you been with?'
Nicholas was generally interested
'Um…I dunno. Not a lot.'
'Have you ever done anything more than a kiss?'
'Oh yeah sure, sure.' Danny said truthfully
'What about with a woman'
'That too. But that was in my teens'
Nicholas nodded. He couldn't believe how honest Danny was being about this
'Do you-' Nicholas shrugged into his shoulders 'Like anyone at the moment?'
Danny cleared his throat
'Yeah'
'Ah'
Danny picked up the crisps and began to devour them
'Who?'
Danny stopped half way biting into a crisp
'Someone, you wont know him' he ate the crisp quickly and Nick could hear the crunches.
'Ok then'
Nicholas picked up the box of doughnuts and ate one, then took a drink of his beer and put it down again
'Fuck it'
He lunged at Danny, pushing him down so his head was on the arm rest and pushed his lips on his. He could taste the original flavour of the crisp and he felt Danny kiss back a few moments later. He moved himself so he was on top of the larger man and kissed his mouth and bit down on his lip.
He opened his eyes as he lifted his head up slightly. Danny looked up at him
'Is it me? Nicholas asked
Danny nodded slightly
'That's all I needed to hear'
Nicholas could feel Danny smile against his lips. His heart was racing and he could feel the sweat on his brow. He felt Danny's arms wrap around his back and down to his waist and squeezed slightly with his hands.
Nicholas moved his hands up and rubbed them through the other mans black hair, tugging slightly. A thought then came to him
'Danny, your drunk. I'm taking advantage of you' he left his lips and started to get up, the guilt washing over him.
'No you're not! I'm sober!' he took hold of Nicks waist securely
'No…I can't when you probably won't even remember this tomorrow'
Danny wouldn't let him go
'I love you though'
Nicholas turned his head back to look down at Danny, the light of the telly shining off his face
'You love me?'
'Yes' Danny breathed
'That's drunken words…'
'I will prove it to you'
Danny got up and sat Nicholas down on the sofa
'Wait here' he smiled and ran up his stairs.
Nicholas had no idea where he was going. But he really couldn't take it if this just was a lust factor for Danny…because it certainly wasn't for him. He wanted this to be special, a night they will both remember. But Danny obviously wouldn't. And he didn't believe what Danny just said about loving him…he couldn't.
He then felt a book drop to his lap and he saw Danny looking at him
'Open it from the back'
Nicholas picked the book up, looked at Danny and then opened the book to reveal its pages. There was a picture of two stick men, their names written above their heads. 'Danny' and 'Nicholas'
'Flip it'
Nicholas took it and flipped the pages through quickly. It was a little animation of the two stick men walking across the page, then the Danny cartoon taking the Nicholas cartoons hand and saying the words 'I Love You'
And at the front page it was two proper drawings of him and Danny kissing. Nicholas was nearly in tears…this was so beautiful
'Danny' he breathed
'See, I really do love you Nicholas'
Nicholas' eyes were stuck to the front picture. It was drawn with so much care…
He looked up at Danny, who was blushing furiously and held the book up
'This is the most adorable thing I have ever seen' and he found NOTHING adorable.
He jumped on Danny and gave him a full-hearted kiss. This would be a night to remember for both of them, sober or not.
'I love you too' he whispered, before biting Danny's earlobe.