Something very short today. Just because. ;)

Danny had only stepped away for a moment. Five minutes. Maybe. Just. Barely long enough to give Tess a call and reassure her that everything was fantastic and he was heading home tomorrow, and he'd bought her something wonderful, and yes he was sure he had bought it, and no he wasn't going to tell her what it might be, and he loved her so much, and no he wasn't even going to give her a clue.

Five minutes. Surely not long enough for Rusty to get into trouble. And yet when Danny walked back inside, Rusty was leaning up against the bar with a large drunk man draped over him, politely evading the drunk's wandering hands.

Sighing and with a definite set to his jaw, Danny marched forwards, prepared to be a hell of a lot less polite. He stopped abruptly the moment Rusty became aware of him. Because the moment Rusty became aware of him Rusty was broadcasting invisible, urgent, keep-back signals in mile-high, illuminated neon.

Troubled, he sank down into a chair at their abandoned table and watched surreptitiously. He didn't think there was any danger. Rusty didn't seem frightened in any way, just frantic for Danny not to come over. He watched some more. If he had to guess, the drunk knew Rusty. Or thought he did. Familiarity, not predation. Not that that made it any better to watch. Not that that made Rusty seem to be enjoying it any more. And whatever urgent excuses Rusty was whispering, the man was too drunk or too thick-skinned to be anything other than persistent. And Rusty was shaking his head at the man, but his hands were clasped loosely together and he was looking up at the man demurely through long lashes. He looked effete and ineffectual and vapid and vacant. Not Rusty. Very much not Rusty.

So, Rusty playing a part and a man who thought he knew and thought he had a right to touch. Danny gritted his teeth. A con he'd had no part in and a mark who didn't know he had been and really shouldn't find out. They'd just come out for a quiet drink. Why did things always get complicated.

As he watched, Rusty firmly removed the man's hand for a third time. Right. Enough was enough. He might have no doubts that Rusty would successfully extricate himself given time and Rusty might still be screaming at him to stay well away and leave well alone, but if he was able to stand by and do nothing then his life would be a lot less....everything, really....than it was.

He walked up to the bar, and barely, silently, acknowledged Rusty's frustration and resignation.

"Hi there," he smiled very politely and he very pointedly put an arm over Rusty's shoulders and glared at the drunk. "I don't believe we've been introduced."

"Hey, Tommy," Rusty cut in with a little giggle and a frown that only Danny could see. "This is Jasper. He's an old friend of mine."

"Uh huh," Danny nodded.

"You and sweetcheeks together?" Jasper looked dumbly disappointed.

Sweetcheeks?

"Yes," Danny said with difficulty, not looking anywhere near Rusty. "We are."

"Damn," Jasper sighed. "That sure is a pity, sugar-lips. I was hoping you and me might get better acquainted."

Sugar-lips?!

"Sorry I got to say no," Rusty purred.

"But he does," Danny smiled, still standing over Jasper.

"Sugar-lips...not that I ever got to taste, you know that?" Jasper complained morosely.

Danny wasn't surprised.

"Your boyfriend is a tease," Jasper rambled on. "So pretty though. And I love the way he smiles when he sings Shania Twain on karaoke. And he gets drunk from three Mai Tais, don't you kitten?"

Kitten?!? Oh, God help him.

"It was very nice to meet you, Jasper," he began hastily.

Jasper ignored him and looked at Rusty again, leaning in far closer than Danny felt Tommy the fake boyfriend would like. Come to that, he wasn't exactly delighted with it. "I looked for you later, you know. Guess you'd moved on. Could've done with the company. You know, when I got home, I found I'd been robbed. They took everything I owned. I mean, everything. They took the carpets. And the lightbulbs. And the wallpaper. And then, and then, after that I find out that my bitch of a wife has found out about the money I was hiding from the lot and left me. Said it was hers in the first place. What does she know, right? Not like it was hers in the first first place. Stupid bitch left me with nothing." His voice rose and he looked at them for encouragement, blinking heavily. "Could really have used the company," he mumbled, and he reached out and touched Rusty's hair with a trembling hand. "Could still use the company. 'M so lonely..."

"No," Rusty said firmly, pushing the hand away, and Danny grabbed Jasper's arm when he looked like he was going to try again.

"Enough," he snapped.

Jasper staggered to his feet. "Yeah, yeah, I'm going, I'm going. Selfish prick. Something like sweetcheeks should belong to the world you know?"

He stumbled off.

Danny turned and looked at Rusty who had stumbled against the bar with an audible sigh of relief. "You mind telling me what that was about?"

Jasper lurched back up and planted a brief, slobbering kiss on Rusty's cheek before either of them could react. "Goodbye, Danny, " he said and he was talking to Rusty.

There was a long silence. In fact, it went on long after Jasper had disappeared again. Long after Rusty had signalled the barman for another couple of drinks. Long after they'd walked thoughtfully back to their table.

"It was five years ago," Rusty said eventually. "You'd just gone to prison."

Danny stared at him.

"I might have been a little upset with you," Rusty added pensively, wiping his cheek and taking a drink.

Danny stared some more.

"Okay," Rusty conceded with a sigh. "Maybe a lot upset."

"You used my name for a part," Danny said slowly. "You used my name for a blond bimbo."

Rusty looked down at his drink. "You weren't meant to find out."

"Yeah," Danny said heavily. "You bring strange new meaning to passive aggression, you know that?"

Rusty looked up at him and apology burned deep in his eyes and anger had long ago been overtaken by guilt and regret.

Danny sighed. It was five years ago. And he didn't even need to stretch to imagine how lost and frightened and angry Rusty had been. And really, if he thought about it, it was kind of -

" - funny?" Rusty asked a little incredulous and a lot hopeful as Danny's lips twitched.

"Yeah," he admitted. "Long as you don't make a habit - "

" - of impersonating you?" Rusty grinned. "Only when I'm feeling old."

Danny shook his head. "So I get that you were distracting Mr Charm there. Who for? The wife?"

"Uh huh," Rusty agreed. "Easy enough. Spent a couple nights letting him buy me drinks and teach me to play pool."

"Right." He frowned. "Was the wife anyone we - "

" - Tammy," Rusty cut in.

"No shit." Danny blinked. "Tammy married that?"

"Yeah," Rusty grimaced. "Lasted just over a month. In that time he slept with nine guys she knows of and stole twenty grand from her."

"Fuck," Danny exhaled. "Hope you ruined the bastard."

"Pretty much," Rusty nodded. "I'll never get why she married him in the first place."

"Some people are willing to tolerate a lot from the people they love," Danny said gravely.

Rusty looked suspicious. Danny grinned.

Tolerance was one thing. Didn't mean that revenge wasn't inevitable.