Chapter three: The Showman & The Sleight: Part III
Word Count: 3, 070
Jack rarely woke up earlier than Danny but it did happen on occasion.
When he did – as he did that random morning – he goes into Danny's room and looks at the sleeping man. He rarely moved in his sleep and Jack often found him lying exactly the same way as he had the night before. His back was against the wall and he held a pillow against so close to his chest that it left no space for air. Occasionally he frowned and then his face relaxed. It took everything in Jack not to smooth out the lines that appeared on Danny's face when that frown appeared. So far, he'd managed.
He then walked out the door, locked it behind him and went out to get money. He walked through the city with a habit that only came from living on the streets. Jack knew every road like the back of his hand. He knew where to go when you wanted to be left alone and where to go if you needed instant money. And while his feet carried him where he was supposed to go his mind wandered of elsewhere.
Danny was a complicated guy. No one could claim otherwise. He didn't always go after what he wanted and he thought things through but five and six times before he acted upon his desires. Jack knew a lot more than Danny thought he knew about him. He knew about the Danny's fear for strong emotions, about the occasional anxiety that left him paralyzed and the meaning of the tattoos on his body.
Jack was a simple guy. When he wanted something, he went after it. He didn't fear his own emotions nor the world. The world had already tried beating him once and it had failed. Jack knew for a fact that when the next battle came – as it would – he would yet again walk out as the winner. Jack knew a lot of things. But at the moment what shocked him was the way Danny avoided him. Badly but never the less the magician was making attempts. He was making attempts at avoiding everyone.
Jack stood in the back when Danny performed his show. He could see the way the girls clung to his every word and Jack knew for a fact that at least one of them would offer to go with Danny home. But when that happened Danny shook his head and walked back to the apartment alone. Jack knew this since he followed him. Something had changed for the past weeks and Jack knew what. He had no trouble seeing that all the magic Danny was doing – and the other stuff that kept him busy – was to avoid Jack. Because seeing less of Jack meant experiencing less of those emotions that seemed to take over his mind and make him completely unable to function. Jack didn't know what exactly was going on inside his head. But he wanted to.
He remembered following Danny once to the graveyard. He watched – not shocked – as Danny sat down on the ground in front of his brothers grave and then he began talking.
"I still haven't talked about it with anyone other than you." He began and laughed. "I'm doing exactly what used to annoy you when we were kids. I'm stalling because if I don't do anything maybe he'll never know and then eventually it'll all just be another lost opportunity. Another relationship that wasn't meant to be. I prefer those to be honest. They're way better than ending up hurt or hurting someone."
Jack had a pretty good idea about who he was talking about. But he didn't know for sure. And thus, far he hadn't been brave enough to ask. Or to admit his feelings.
Danny was alone in the apartment when he found the card. He knew that something was wrong the moment he stepped in. He squinted at the furniture and tried to see what had been moved. Because he knew that something was not in the same place as it had been when he left that morning. And eventually he saw the card with the ever so ironic name. The Lovers. And after noticing the date and address he allowed himself to sit on the couch and laugh at the irony of the card.
The lovers, really?
It wasn't that he was completely oblivious to the amount of sexual conquests he had under his belt. He knew there were more than enough. But he never considered any of them as lovers. They were people that he had sex with once and occasionally but very rarely twice. Danny knew how to do sex without emotions but he knew nothing about love and the term lovers was something he'd never used.
Initially the card had led to a spark of excitement but the more Danny looked at it the more it annoyed him. It felt as if it was mocking him and reminded Danny of how incapable he was of acting upon his emotions. He thought that he would eventually get used to his feelings for Jack and Danny believed that when that happened they would subside and grow weaker or if nothing else get easier to hide. Ever since Danny learned about the Eye he had wanted to get in. He never thought that when the chance appeared that the organization – or whatever they wanted to be called – would annoy him. The Lovers. Really?
Danny was – if anything completely paralyzed – in front of the prospect of love. He hadn't experienced it since his brother died and that was a completely different love than the one was experiencing now. Because there really was no other way of describing it anymore. Danny had gone way past that he thought as he remembered something that had happened a few days earlier.
"You look deep in thought." Jack commented with his hoarse voice as he walked into the kitchen and sat down on the opposite side of the table. "What's going on Danny?"
Danny had been watching the piece of paper in front of him with a frown for the past hour and it was driving Jack crazy.
"I have been trying to come up with this trick but I can't seem to…" Danny sighed and glanced at Jack. "Why don't you take a look at it. Maybe you can fix it for me?"
Jack hummed as he took the piece of paper and began reading the instructions. Danny leaned back into his chair and watched as the brunet went between frowning and smiling at the idea. Occasionally he would laugh. Even when Jack wasn't doing anything special he still had the power to make Danny's heart beat quicker and it became impossible not to smile. Danny Atlas was a strange person. He had told Jack that he was his friend. He never wanted him as a friend.
"What you need is me." Jack replied after having finished reading. "Or someone else better skilled than me to do the things that needs be done backstage. Then it'll be just another trick like the ones you do all the time."
"You're right. I need you." Danny mumbled as he wrote a few words on the paper.
"Or someone as good as I am."
Danny laughed and without missing a beat or looking up from his paper he said one of many words that could make Jack blush. "And since there are no one better than you. I need you." Danny had realized what he'd said seconds later and then he'd made a run for it. Babbling about something that he needed to do. Jack saw straight through it. How could he not?
Two questions bothered Danny, one was which cards the others had. The other question that tainted his mind – other than the obvious – was which other magicians had been given cards? Because he very much assumed that there would be more.
The sound of the door being opened made him look up. Jack still didn't own a key but that didn't stop him from entering and leaving the apartment as he felt like. "Danny, you'll never guess what I got."
Danny smirked and put the card on the inside of his jacket before Jack had a chance to see it. "Maybe a pretty card with a date and a place written on the back?"
Jack frowned when he appeared in the living room where Danny was lying against the couch. "Yeah. Did you get one too?" Danny nodded. "Do you know what this means?" Jack added with a crooked smile. "It means that I'm as good as you are."
Danny rolled his eyes. "I already knew that. It also means that you are the best sleight in the world."
"What was that?" Jack asked as he feigned shock. Danny watched him with a smile on his face. "Was that J. Daniel Atlas agreeing with me? More specifically agreeing that I'm as good as he is at magic in which he considers to be his greatest talent? And also, was that a compliment for me? Danny…"
Danny nodded as he sat up in the couch leaving room for Jack. "Yeah, well it's true. We're not friends. I don't lie to my friends." Jack raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I don't lie to you."
Jack nodded. He walked casually across the room and sat down on the other end of the couch from Danny. He could see the slight way Danny's hand gravitated towards the deck of cards on the table and casually before Danny took it Jack's hand had already grasped it and took the cards out. He watched the cards the entire time as the thoughts ran through his mind. It was clear to the both of them that they weren't friends. The question was if they had ever been just friends or if the promise of something more had followed them like a shadow since the first time they met. Dany wasn't about to do anything about it and that left Jack to yet again be the one to take action.
"So, I like you Danny."
The magician gave him an amused smile. "Yeah well I like you too."
Jack rolled his eyes and gave him a crooked smile. "You're not a stupid man Danny. I'm not saying that I like you as in you are my idol or I like you as in you are my friend. I am saying that I like you as in I want to kiss you. There is a slight different between the three."
Danny momentarily held his breath. His eyes had doubled in size and not even Danny himself was sure of why that was. Was it because he didn't expect Jack to be so blunt or was it because the words he was hearing sounded so much like the words he had wanted to hear, or say. He looked down on his fingers as they shakily moved across his legs. The shaking didn't go unnoticed by Jack who acted as if he didn't see it.
"That sounds good." Danny eventually said.
Jack stopped toying with the deck of cards and put it back on the table. Just out of Danny's reach.
"What sounds good?" Jack asked as he leaned forward – suddenly feeling braver than he did just mere seconds ago – and leaned his hands against Danny's legs.
If Jack hadn't seen enough of Danny's magic shows to know that he rarely left alone then he would almost suspect that this was uncharted territories. But Jack knew that wasn't the case. Quite the contrary.
"The kissing." Danny replied as he looked straight into Jack's eyes.
The sleight gave him that typical crooked smile and again that made Danny's heart beat faster. He scooted closer to Jack so that their knees bumped into each other and he no longer needed to stretch his arms completely to reach him.
Jack smirked. "Okay then."
The kiss was everything Jack wanted it to be and more. He had heard stories about J. Daniel Atlas. Both in terms of his magic and other things. He knew before that the rumors about the magic was true. And now as the kiss grew more heated, their hands investigated each other's bodies and they molded themselves after each other Jack knew that the other rumors he had heard was also true.
March 29th; 4:44 PM, 45 East Evan Street, NY, NY
"I need coffee." Jack muttered with his eyes almost closed from where he sat next to Danny. "Hey dude, can you drop me of? I need my caffeine." He lazily spoke as he leaned against Danny's shoulder.
"I told you we should have left earlier."
Jack glanced up at him with an amused smile as he stretched his body. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you wish that we left the apartment earlier." When Danny didn't reply, Jack laughed. "That's what I thought. Look, I am just going to get some coffee. You'll be there exactly on time for the both of us."
The cab stopped when Jack told him to and Danny watched his boyfriend walk out of the open door. "You know one of these days you are going to have to learn how to be on time."
Jack winked at him. "Sounds boring. You better hurry Atlas otherwise you'll end up being late too."
His boyfriend rolled his eyes at him and Jack watched as the cab disappeared around the corner. It was crazy how nothing had really changed. Their relationship was as it had always been since the first day they spent time together and the only difference was that they nowadays kissed more. Jack saw it only as a benefit and he quickly got addicted to the feeling of Danny's lips against his own. Few feelings could beat kissing Danny. It also happened to be the best way to shut him up if the situation ever needed him to. Because Danny enjoyed kissing as much as Jack did.
The sleight easily found a place where he could buy coffee and once he was there he bought a cup of tea. With both mugs to go he quickly walked out of the shop. He glanced at the clock and shrugged. He was late. But when was he not late he thought to himself and hurried down the street to the right address. The moment he opened the door he heard voices. One unmistakably belonged to Danny who turned around and gave Jack a smile as he appeared at the end of the hallway.
Jack feigned shock. "No way. J. Daniel Atlas? Dude, I've seen everything that you have ever done. I mean, you're, like - I, I idolize you, seriously."
Danny rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah you're hilarious."
Jack nodded and kissed Danny before he gave him his cup of tea. "I know I am. I'm very sweet too because I bought this for you."
Merritt's loud coughing had both men look at him. "I'm guessing you two know each other."
Danny nodded his head towards him. "He's a mentalist. Apparently, he reads minds." There was no missing the sky-high levels of sarcasm in those sentences Jack thought as he allowed himself to smile. Trust Danny to insult people he'd just met.
"Question. Did you get one of these?" Merritt asked Jack while glaring at Danny with something that almost looked like anger.
Jack nodded as he took the card from inside the pocket of his leather jacket. "Yeah, oh, yeah. Death."
Danny's eyes seemed to turn a shade darker in just seconds and he looked at the card as if it was something dangerous, something that he didn't want Jack to be associated with much less been given. He shook his head and looked down on the floor muttering that didn't make any sense but Jack was the only one who noticed.
Henley who hadn't admitted to having seen Jack before took hers out and held it in front of her. "The High Priestess."
"I'm the Lover." Danny said and shrugged.
Jack winked at him and watched as Danny's cheeks turned into a shade of red. "I can definitely vouch for that."
Merritt sighed loudly and earned their attention. "Hermit."
Jack nodded and watched the three as they stood not doing anything. He didn't have to be observant to know that Danny had probably said something to insult them. It was in every movement they did and the tension was thick enough to cut a knife through. Danny looked at the roof, the floor or at Jack. Henley glanced at Merritt whom frowned as he looked at Danny and Jack.
"So, what are we - are we waiting for someone? Why, why are we just...?" Henley and Merritt replied shortly that it was locked and Jack laughed as he turned to his favorite magician. "Danny, I'm disappointed. Didn't you tell them? Nothings ever locked."
The end