Why holo, it's me. Anyone? Holosexuals? No? K.
Well I'm back. With NYSM fic this time. Actually finished this one a while ago but chose to upload it today. Mainly cause I just watched the second movie again. Anywho. Yes, this is a DanLey fic. Mainly cause it's real. I was hella sad about Henley not being in the second one so here's a fic where she comes back! Lol spoiling my own Fanfiction. I hope you enjoy! I tried ;-;
J. Daniel Atlas stood outside of the small cafe he had watched a certain redhead walk out of with a fresh cup of coffee in her gloved hand what felt like so long ago. She would then cross the street with her bright red-orange hair flying around in the wind, as she looked from side to side, making sure no car was passing. She would smile at him and nod towards the taxi waiting for them. He had asked, once, why it was him who she dragged along to get her daily dose of caffeine. And she had answered with a laugh.
"Because you would get unexplainably pissed off if I went with anyone else."
Back then, he had said nothing. He had just continued to walk next to her with a slight smirk on his face, although she hadn't noticed. But he had known that she was right. He still did, and he always would.
But of course, that was in the past. Now, she was gone. Even the scent of her overly strong vanilla perfume had begun to fade from his apartment, where she had plopped herself on his couch and refused to leave so many times. He never told her, but he secretly liked her surprise visits. The days where he would wake up to see her asleep on his couch. He would watch her for a few seconds, then turn around and leave the apartment, not returning until he knew she had left.
Standing there, he thought back to the day where Lula had shown up at his apartment. Hearing the name of the woman he had tried to wipe from his emotions, from his memory (emphasis on the word "tried") had shaken him. He easily gained his outer composure back, but internally, it had bothered him so much that now, he had given up trying to get the woman out of his brain. He would never tell Lula. He would never let her have the pleasure of knowing that something she said had bothered him so much. And of course, he would never let her figure out how easily hearing the name of that woman could threaten to breaking down his talent of hiding strong emotions. Lula's remarks on how the redhead supposedly got tired of waiting for the Eye echoed in his brain. How she got tried of waiting for...him. After Lula had left, he had asked himself, "what does she mean by that?" But he knew. Of course he did. He knew too well.
He ran a hand through his newly shaved hair. He had said goodbye to his long hair the day after she had left. It had sounded ridiculous to him at the time, but he now admitted to himself that seeing his hair had reminded himself of her. The times where she would say "nice hair" immediately after he changed it. She was always the first one to notice. That time, he changed his hair, and there was no one to say "nice hair" to him. He thought back to when he reunited with the rest for the first time after she had left, with his shaven head. After a short talk, they were left to go back on their own again. However, this time, before he left, Merritt had clasped one of his shoulders.
"I know. Me too," he had said, glancing up for a split second at Daniel's hair as he did. It was the most genuine thing he had ever heard coming from Merritt's mouth. Not to mention Merritt quoted him. He almost punched him in the face for being so painfully cliché. However, he was glad that they had some kind of interaction between the two of them that wasn't just some kind of tease or insult. He also remembered that it had annoyed him how easy it was to read him. It still did. Merritt with the hair issue. Lula with his entire situation. Not to mention that one time where Jack had suddenly said "Hey, she's been waiting, you know?"
It was when she was still with them, the year that they had spent preparing for their first act. They were all going out to dinner together, something that didn't happen often. Jack had brushed it off as if he was saying that Henley was waiting in the car, which she was. But he was smarter than that. Again. Was he always so easy to read?
Daniel crushed the small coffee cup he was holding. No, he didn't love coffee, not as much as she did. But he had never had a problem with it, and he would sometimes have a small cup with her during her daily coffee break. He moved, for the first time in about 10 minutes, to throw away the cup. He hadn't cared that he was blocking the way of many people leaving the coffee shop, nor had he cared about the many people pushing past him during that 10 minute time period. He could care less about his surroundings when he was deep in thought. He was lucky he was wearing a hoodie and fake glasses, and that the New York citizens were too busy to notice who he was. He threw away the cup, and turned around, ready to leave. He was about to walk away when he froze. Time seemed to stop as he breathed in the oh-so-familiar smell of sickeningly sweet vanilla, and his eyes just barely caught the flash of red-orange hair swishing past him. He whipped around and grabbed at the hand of the person passing by him, his hood flying off his head. The impulse that had driven him to do so felt strangely familiar, as if he knew it by heart. When brought his hand up, all he had in his hand was a brown leather glove.
He clenched it in his fist, staring at it. It was hers. She was here. She knew he knew she was here. His eyebrows began to twitch again, and he was afraid to move. Fear. Another strong emotion she could easily bring out of him. She was too smart for him, although he hated to admit it. She knew him too well. She knew all of his weaknesses. Especially his most important and influential one.
"Nice hair, Danny."
Her.
He turned around, slowly. He let out the breath he was holding in, and forced his signature straight face with a hint of a smug smile, trying to hold in the emotions in him that threatened to overflow onto his outer self.
"Henley."
She looked the same. Exactly the same as the day he had first seen her again after she quit being his assistant. Long red-orange hair. A patterned scarf. A long sleeved cashmere sweater. Dark blue jeans. Brown heeled boots. And of course, she was holding her cup of hot coffee, her name written clearly on the side. He hadn't realized how desperate he was to see her again until this moment. Neither of them said a word for a couple of minutes, and busy New Yorkers continued to walk right through the gap in between them. He was scared that someone would walk past him, obstructing his view for a split second, and she would disappear. Before he could think too much into it, Henley held out her hand. Her bare hand. When was the last time he had seen it? Henley had stopped coming to his apartment in her pajamas, bare face, and bare hands weeks before she left.
"Well? You know I'm not letting you keep that, Danny," Henley said impatiently, stepping closer so that passing people now went around them instead of through the gap between them. Danny snapped out of it and handed the glove to her. He finally, finally began to talk to her.
"I figured you didn't have the strength to leave your favorite caffeine joint," he remarked with a small smile. A real one. She scoffed, and then let out a small chuckle.
"New Year's at London, huh?" she asked. Danny scratched at the back of his hand.
"So you've been paying attention," he replied. Henley took a sip of her coffee.
"I thought I'd might. After all, you guys were all over the news."
She began to walk over to the bench near them, and he joined her. They sat down, and the same silence from earlier returned. Beeps and the sounds of people talking were the only thing they listened to for a while.
"How are the new pair of lovebirds doing?" Henley finally asked, with a small smile. Danny paused, recalling the day of their final act, where Lula had abruptly kissed Jack. He would admit another thing to himself. He was jealous. Not of either of them. He had no romantic feelings towards Lula, clearly, and hell no, he wasn't gay. Even if he was, he wouldn't be gay for any of the Horsemen. That would be...weird. He almost laughed. He found it stupid of him that he said it would be weird when he had fallen, hard, for one of them. Since when had he been so good at admitting things to himself? That point aside, in truth, he was jealous of soley their ability to actually even carry out some kind of public affection. It wasn't like he could pop a surprise kiss on Henley when she was who-knows-where on that day, instead of right next to him, where he would have liked her to be. He thought back to the many times he simply wanted to grab her and physically tell their crowd that she was his. Lula and Jack certainly did it easily. He shook his head. He wasn't going to let himself get into this subject.
Before his brain could wander some more, Henley abruptly asked, "What are you shaking your head about?"
Danny didn't answer.
He'd die before telling her what he was thinking about so deeply. Instead, he would change the subject. He turned to her, feigning a smirk.
"What you said implies that there was a previous pair of lovebirds."
Henley, after hearing his words, looked up at him in mild surprise. They locked eyes for a few seconds. Henley opened her mouth and closed it. She then smiled, turning back to her coffee.
"Well, I thought you and Merritt already knew of your status of 'lovebirds'." Danny let out a small, subtle laugh, and Henley chuckled next to him. The same silence returned, but this time he kept his eyes on her. He had the sudden impulse to grab her and drag her back to Dylan, forcing her to join them again. But that would be remarkably childish, and he knew he wouldn't be able to escape that without a slap.
Suddenly, breaking him out of his trance, Henley reached out and grabbed Danny's hand with her bare one as she stood up. He looked up at her, surprised for two reasons. One, her hand was still bare. Why hadn't she put her glove on? Two, she was holding his hand. The last time that had happened was when they had first joined the Eye.
Henley smiled at him.
"Take care of them for me, Danny?"
Although it was more of an order than a question. He exhaled and looked down at her hand gently holding his. It infuriated him how easy it was for her to control his emotions. Still, he let his mouth spread into a subtle smile.
"Yeah," he answered, keeping his gaze on their hands.
Her hand slipped away from his, and he lifted her head, watching her walk away off into the crowds of New York City. His smile slowly disappeared. He let out a large sigh and removed his glasses. He stood up and put his hands into his pockets, walking in the opposite direction Henley had gone in.
His eyebrows began to twitch again as he felt a smooth fabric inside his pocket. It hadn't been there before. Daniel stopped in his tracks, his shoulders slumping and a smirk spreading on his lips as he accepted defeat. He was supposed to be the master magician here. He took out the small brown leather glove that sat in his pocket. When did she manage to slip it in? He gripped it tighter as he did before. He could smell the strong vanilla scent coming from the glove. Danny slipped it back into his pocket and slowly began to walk back to his apartment.
"You know I'm not letting you keep that, Danny." He stopped. So she had been planning to plant her glove on him from the start. She was hinting at the fact that it wouldn't be the last time they saw each other. He ran his fingers through his shaved hair for the second time. He felt yet another emotion that only she could bring out of him grabbing at his chest. Relief. He was relieved.
Daniel reached his home a few minutes later, plopping himself on his bed, holding the brown glove tightly in his hand. Maybe it had been a mistake, going out of his way to go to Henley's coffee joint. Maybe it would have been better if he hadn't seen her. Now he couldn't get her out of his mind. Not to mention the smell of vanilla wouldn't go away.
Not that he minded.
He had missed it. After she had left, the only thing he had left of her was the smell of vanilla from his couch.
Daniel let time pass as he stared at the glove. He suddenly heard a knock on the door. He ignored it. Usually he would tense, because no one was supposed to know where he was. But he was too busy staring at the glove to pay any attention to anything else. However, his plan to just stay put backfired as he heard the sound of his lock unlocking. He sighed, refusing to sit up.
Oh.
It was them.
Jack, Lula, and Merritt's faces popped up from the side of his bedroom door.
"Don't pick apartment locks," he muttered. Jack laughed.
"Well only a few years back, him picking the lock to an apartment was the thing that started this," Merritt said, chuckling.
"Come on, Daniel Atlas! We got food! Up and at em, lazy bones!" Lula yelled as she sat on top on his stomach. Daniel let out a small grunt, the air getting knocked out of him through the impact.
"Okay, you win. It'd be nice if you got off now," he complained. She smiled victoriously, and hopped off. She disappeared to the kitchen to set up the table, leaving the three boys alone.
"When did you meet her?" Merritt asked after a short silence. Of course. They had obviously seen the glove in his hand. Daniel kept his eyes on the ceiling. Jack crossed his arms, leaning on the wall.
"Earlier," he answered. Jack shook his head.
"Did she say anything?" He questioned.
Daniel smirked before continuing.
"Said to take care of you guys."
Merritt let out a short laugh.
"At least she acknowledged that you wouldn't have let anyone else do the job," he said.
Jack smiled, opening his mouth to ask, "How is she?"
"...The same," came the answer after a long pause.
The room became suddenly gloomy and silent. Within this silence, Lula popped up from behind Jack.
"Guys, am I the only one hungry cause..."
Her cheerful voice trailed off as she took in their facial expressions and the heavy mood that filled the room.
"H-hey, is everything alright?" She asked tentatively. Jack stretched his arm to pull her to him by her waist. She smiled at him worriedly.
"Yes, everything's fine. You said you're hungry?" Daniel said, rising from the bed and walking off into the kitchen. Lula made worried looks towards all of them. She turned around and looked at the brown glove sitting on Daniel's bed.
Oh, she realized. Jack brought her to the table before she could say anything about it.
Dinner was silent. Even Lula was quiet, the one who usually attempted (and succeeded) to break any silence. Truthfully, she was about to break the silence when Daniel suddenly stood and left the table. Just like that, dinner was over. The three other horsemen watched as Daniel shut his bedroom door behind him. He was undoubtedly laying on his bed again, staring at the glove.
Merritt sighed, rubbing his temples.
"He really misses her," Lula finally said. Merritt and Jack looked at her, surprised. They quickly realized that this was Lula, and even if no one had told her, she knew all about them. Jack grinned. A sad and wistful grin.
"Yeah."
"Do you think we can do anything about it?" She asked.
Merritt paused, then started to chuckle, rubbing his hands together.
"I believe we can."
The next thing he knew, (after a large struggle including the rest of the horsemen literally dragging him off of his bed and onto the living room floor) Daniel Atlas was sitting in a circle with the other horsemen, playing a game of poker, the glove sitting next to him. Which was ridiculous.
Merritt, for one, always knew what cards someone had. Jack kept on making his cards disappear and grabbing new ones without being noticed. Lula kept looking at other people's cards. Somehow all of theirs, even Merritt's, who sat across from her. Which made it nearly impossible for one to see his cards from her angle. But she was Lula.
However, he would admit that it was an entertaining game, and his attention was taken away from the redhead for a while.
That is, until she popped up on the seat next to him.
