Couple of very short things that are together only because they have the same title. First one is ridiculous and definitely falls under the heading of "This never happened". Second one is slightly different.

Loyalty (1)

*

Boredom, as ever, was the enemy. That was why Linus had borrowed Livingston's laptop, that was why the twins had ended up reading his email over his shoulder, and that was why the mockery he'd initially gotten for being sent a link to a "Which Hogwarts House are you in?" quiz had quickly turned into a fight over who got to try it next.

Linus was in Slytherin and feeling smug about it. He'd had to cheat a little in order to get the right answers, but cunning and resourceful, that was where he wanted to be. Probably. The twins were bickering about both being in Gryffindor – apparently Turk had copied Virgil's answers. No mean feat. Turk had gone first.

"Danny, take a shot," Linus demanded eagerly.

Danny looked over and smiled. "What are we talking about?"

"It's a Hogwarts Sorting test," Livingston explained, relinquishing his seat eagerly. Apparently tests made him queasy. And he was a Ravenclaw.

"Hogwarts?" Danny sounded completely puzzled.

Linus blinked. "You must have heard of it."

Danny grinned and shrugged. "No."

"The school in Harry Potter," Rusty explained, unmoving from his position stretched out over the sofa. He seemed to be trying to take up as much space as possible. Linus would have sworn he was asleep.

Danny looked round. "The kids' books?"

"Mmmm," Rusty agreed.

"When would I have had time to - "

" - well, you could have - "

" - I could have done an advanced degree in English Literature. Doesn't mean I did," Danny finished and Rusty didn't say anything else. Danny frowned. "Anyway, when did you - "

Rusty's arm was over his face but the grin was still visible. " - you know how much a first edition goes for these days?"

With an amused shake of his head, Danny sat down at the computer and quickly ran through the test. Linus looked over his shoulder and blinked as the answer came up.

"You're in Hufflepuff," he crowed.

Danny twisted round and looked at him. "Take it that's not good?"

Turk grinned. "They're the losers," he explained.

"Their mascot is a badger!" Virgil exclaimed, apparently thinking it was relevant.

"They're just sort of average and unexceptional," Livingston added. "The leftovers go there."

Danny didn't look especially bothered. Or especially interested.

"They're useless," Linus said with a broad smile. In some strange way he was enjoying this. He really was bored. "They're all about hard work and being nice and playing fair. And you're one of them."

"Actually, their main character trait is loyalty," Rusty said quietly, his arm still over his face.

There was silence.

Danny grinned happily.

"Oh, come on," Linus protested. "You can't make something cool just like that!"

Livingston sighed. "Yes. Yes they can."

Danny grinned a little more and quickly ran through the test again. "Rusty, you're with me," he announced happily.

Rusty looked over at him and smiled. "Obviously."

Linus ground his teeth. Not fair.

Loyalty (2)

*

Tess didn't know the details but she knew there'd been trouble. No one had died, no one had even been hurt but when Danny had made a point of telling her that, she'd known that it had been a possibility.

She didn't know the details. Danny had got a phone call and he'd smiled the smile that meant he was holding back an avalanche of anger and he'd said that he needed to go and do a friend a favour and she'd held him close and she'd held him tight and she'd made him look her in the eyes and promise to be careful and he'd smiled the smile that meant he loved her and she'd been swept off her feet and there were probably a thousand movies that it reminded Danny of. It reminded Tess of her life.

She didn't know the details but she'd spent a week wondering and worrying before she'd got the phone call to say that it was all over and the good guys had won and there'd been a celebration at Reuben's and Danny had wanted her there.

He'd picked her up from the airport and he'd seemed happy and she knew how pleased he'd been to see her, but she'd recognised the look in his eyes and the tightness in his mouth, and she'd seen the complete exhaustion and the residue of fear and misery, and she understood that he needed her and she understood that she wasn't the only one he needed and she'd held him close and tight and she hadn't said anything when he drove just a little too fast back to Reuben's and she hadn't said anything when he'd held her hand as if he never wanted to let it go and led her through the house until he found Rusty and it was only when they were both there that she saw him begin to relax. She didn't say anything. She didn't know the details.

Later, when they were back home, when they were alone and he wasn't playing for a crowd, she would ask him, and later he would tell her or he wouldn't. In some strange way it didn't matter. The love and comfort was there for him regardless. Always would be.

In the meantime there was a party and over the hours, somewhere along the lines, she'd got separated from Danny and had ended up following Linus all over the house, looking for a piano that he swore was somewhere. Why he wanted a piano was beyond her. Why he didn't just ask Reuben even more so. Why Reuben's house had quite so many doors was probably beyond everyone.

She paused with him outside a lattice door. "Let's try here," he suggested and he opened it and then, with a look of panic, closed it quickly. "Oh, Jesus! Sorry." He stood in front of the door and looked down the corridor. "Okay, no piano there. Let's move on because there's definitely a piano here and it's definitely not there."

Frowning, she reached past him, opened the door and looked over his shoulder. He cringed "Tess . . . " he warned.

Looking into the room the first thing she saw was a sofa and Danny and Rusty curled up on it, asleep. Danny's head was on Rusty's shoulder. Rusty's hand was clasped between both of Danny's. They were smiling and they looked peaceful, and considering that earlier they'd both looked as if they'd never even heard of sleep, she felt something lighten in her chest. Still. She wondered if she should wake them. Probably there were more comfortable places to sleep. She looked again. Maybe, right now, there weren't.

As quietly as she could she closed the door over.

"I'm sure they just fell asleep," Linus blurted out.

Tess looked at him strangely. "Yes," she agreed. That was obvious.

Linus swallowed. "I mean, I'm sure they weren't doing anything."

She blinked. "Doing anythi . . . do you think I'm going to get jealous?" she asked incredulously. "Do you think I'm going to start thinking that Danny's sleeping with Rusty?" The idea was as ludicrous as always. She looked closer at him and saw the faint blush and the way he wouldn't meet her eyes. "You think they're sleeping together," she stated, with vivid astonishment.

"No!" He shook his head frantically. "Well, I mean, they're . . . but I'm sure they don't . . . and . . "

"You really think that they're having an affair," she reiterated with disbelief. "Have you met my husband? Have you met Rusty?"

She stared at him until he squeaked an affirmative.

"And you haven't noticed that he – they - are loyal to the point of insanity?" She didn't need to know the details to know that. "You haven't noticed that he'd rather die than betray someone he cares about. They care about," she corrected, because it wasn't as if she didn't know both of them.

"Well, yes, but, I mean - " Linus stammered.

" - Danny wouldn't do that," Tess interrupted him, low and fierce because she could handle the assumptions and the accusations, was used to them, but not from their friends. "Danny would never do that. I worry about Danny getting caught, I worry about Danny getting hurt. I never worry about Danny betraying me."

Linus looked somewhat ashamed and Tess began to wonder.

"Did you come up with this theory on your own," she asked cautiously. "Or did it have a little help?"

"I never really thought that they were," Linus defended. "It's just that they . . . they've got a vibe. And . . . " he jerked his thumb over his shoulder, back towards the room where Danny and Rusty were sleeping.

Tess nodded and sighed. "You mean they were playing in front of you."

"They were playing me?" Linus asked. His eyes were wide and she felt like smiling and wondered if he'd ever get used to that.

"I think so," she told him and her eyes narrowed. Oh, they'd almost-agreed to stop doing that. At least in front of people she was likely to meet. She smiled. "They're in trouble when they wake up."

Linus looked a little terrified.

Still. She'd let them sleep for now.

Hope you enjoyed. Least it was more cheerful than VK, right?