A/N: Oh, High School Daze. Why are you suddenly so hard to write? I had so many ideas on where to go with this chapter. But I decided to go with this one before I delve into the next few chapters. I was asked to provide some more *ahem* Bromance (or close, brotherly relationship between two heterosexual men, as I prefer to call it) between Flack and Danny. So, here you go. You can't say I never listen to your requests! I guess it's kind of a filler, but I hope you have fun none the less. : )

Thanks to all who took the time to review. You guys are what keeps this story going! I'm glad you enjoyed the resolution to Flack and Lindsay's little encounter!

So, without further ado, I'll shut up and leave you to read the next chapter in peace.

"Flack, cover me. My phone's ringing," Danny called out.

"What? Just leave it, Messer," Flack shouted back. "I can't hold them off on my own!"

"Pussy," Danny muttered, pulling his phone from his pocket. "Messer."

"Hey baby."

"Hey, Linds," Danny said. "What's up?"

"Not much. Just put Lucy to bed and thought I'd call to see how your night was going."

"Well, we're under heavy enemy fire right now, babe. I can't really talk. They've got us surrounded on all sides and… Flack? Flack! No, don't go out there, man! It's a trap!"

"We can't stay here, Dan," Flack hissed. "We're just sitting ducks. Come on, let's go!"

"Babe, I gotta go. Flack's about to shit his pants."

"Okay, well you boys have fun. And don't be too late."

"We will. And I won't."

"Love you."

"You too, Linds. Bye."

Danny pocketed his phone and glanced over to where Flack was crouched down behind a stack of crates as he peeked over the top to assess the situation.

"You done?" Flack asked, noticing that Danny had finished his call.

"Done. So, what do we got?"

"Well, there's four or five of them over in that bunker there," Flack whispered, pointing to a low, squat fortress on the other side of the warehouse. "And I think they've got us flanked on both sides. But I don't know how many."

"Sounds like a suicide mission, Flack," Danny replied sombrely. "They outnumber us at least five to one."

"So, what do you want to do?"

Danny peeked over the top of the crates. He could see shadowy figures moving around the edges of the warehouse. Flack was right. There was no way out. Not without a fight.

"I don't know about you," he said, "But I'm not just going to sit here like a coward and let them take us out. If I'm going down, I'm going in a blaze of glory."

"Alright! That's the Messer I know!"

Flack and Danny moved into position, ready to spring into action.

"On the count of three," Danny said and Flack nodded his head. "One… two…"

"Hey, Mess?"

"What?"

"I just wanna say… it's been my honour and privilege to fight by your side tonight. If we make it out of here…"

"Don't talk like that," Danny interrupted. "We're going to get out of here. We're going to be just fine. They have numbers, but we've got years of training behind us, Don."

Flack and Danny grinned at one another, and Danny resumed his countdown.

"One… two… three! Go, Flack! Go!"

They burst out of their hiding place, a haze of projectiles flying through the air in their direction. Flack felt something whiz past his ear and he opened fire on the shadows that were slowly closing in on them. He dropped and rolled across the floor, finding temporary solace behind a pillar as he reloaded his weapon. And that's when he heard it.

"Oomph," came Danny's voice from somewhere out in the darkness. "Flack! Flack, I'm hit!"

"Danny, noooo!"

His weapon reloaded, Flack launched himself out from behind the pillar, firing a barrage of artillery out into the wide open space of the warehouse. He heard a few grunts and he knew he'd hit at least a couple of his intended targets, but there were still more of them out there. How many, he had no idea.

He could see Danny lying on the cold concrete floor a few feet away from him.

"You alright, Mess?"

"It's getting cold, Flack," Danny whispered. "So cold… I can't… I can't hang on much longer. There's a light… I can see it…"

"No, Danny!" Flack cried out. "Don't go toward the light! Stay with me! I'll get you out of here!"

"I'm sorry, Flack. I just… I can't."

Flack watched as Danny gave an exaggerated shudder before his body went completely still.

"Alright, you little shits," Flack muttered under his breath. "Think you can just take down my best friend and get away with it? You are gonna pay!"

He cocked his weapon and ran out into the open to avenge his fallen comrade. He was able to get off a few rounds before he felt something hit his chest and he stumbled backward. He touched his hand to the place he'd been hit, staring in shock and horror at the sticky liquid that covered his fingers. He'd been shot. The little fuckers had shot him!

He heard a chorus of laughter from the murky depths of the warehouse. "Danny, those little pricks shot me!"

"Oh, get over yourself, Flack," Danny said, getting to his feet as the lights in the warehouse came back up, flooding the space with the hot white light from the fluorescent bulbs. "You were standing out in the open. What did you expect?"

Flack sighed, shaking his head. "It's just not fair. Why did I agree to this again?"

"What do you mean, 'agree to this'?" Danny asked. "This was your idea."

"This sucks."

"Cut it out. Don't be such a sore loser." Danny walked to where Flack was standing, a wide smile on his face as he raised his protective face mask and brushed himself off. "Admit it. You had fun."

Flack grinned at his friend as they fell into step with one another on their way to turn in their weapons and gear. "Yeah. I really did. Thanks for coming with me."

"My pleasure. I haven't played paintball in a long, long time."

It was Tuesday night, and Danny had been as good as his word, making sure he set aside the night for the two of them to spend together on what Lindsay had jokingly referred to as their "date night". He had assumed they'd go to Sullivan's, have a few beers, maybe a game of pool. But when Flack had suggested paintball, Danny had jumped at the idea.

"Great death by the way," Flack commented. "I really bought it. The part about seeing the light – that was a nice touch. A little overdramatic, maybe, seeing as you got shot in the leg…"

"Hey, it could have hit my femoral artery," Danny said. "It's a good thing I tried to jump out of the way, though. I think that kid was aiming for my nuts. If he'd hit me where he meant to hit me… well, let's just say I'd be pretty useless to Lindsay in the bedroom from now until… forever."

"Maybe he was trying to do mankind a favour and stop you from procreating," Flack remarked, laughing when Danny gave him a hard shove. "What? Don't get me wrong, Lucy's great. But if you two ever decide to have another kid and it's a boy? Man, I shudder for humanity. One testosterone-fuelled Messer is enough."

"Thanks a lot, you asshole."

"Anytime, Danno."

As they handed over their paintball guns and shrugged out of the protective gear and coveralls they'd rented, they heard the group of kids they'd been playing against come into the office to return their own equipment.

"Man, that was awesome. Did you see me get that one guy?"

"That was so cool…"

There was a pause in their conversation when they saw Danny and Flack standing at the desk. The two detectives turned to look at the boys – a group of nine, maybe ten kids no older than 13 years old. Flack felt no small amount of pride at seeing large splatters of his own yellow paint marking at least five of them. They stared at the older men, obviously torn between celebrating their victory and feeling sheepish at coming face to face with their adversaries after battle.

"Hey, you guys," Danny said, stepping forward. "Good game. Thanks for letting us play." He held up his hand for a high-five from the kids, and was greeted with excited smiles all around. One by one they smacked their palms against Danny's while Flack sulked by the desk at having been bested by a gang of pre-pubescent teenagers. "That's a mean shot you got me with," Danny praised a kid with a shock of flaming red hair and a smattering of freckles across his face. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Um… video games," the kid said, his voice cracking.

"Really? Huh, never played a lot of video games myself. But I've got a friend who's really into them. I bet he'd have had a great time tonight," Danny said. He turned to try and include Flack in the conversation. "Ain't that right, Flack. You think Adam would have had fun with us?"

Flack shrugged his shoulders noncommittally then turned to the man at the desk to pay for their paintball game. Danny rolled his eyes, eliciting a quiet snicker from the boys.

"He's just grumpy 'cause we lost," he whispered to the kids.

"You're pretty cool… for an old guy," one kid said to Danny, causing Flack to snort with laughter as he tucked his wallet away in his pocket. "What do you do?"

"Actually, I'm a cop," Danny said, pulling back the hem of his jacket to reveal the badge clipped to his belt. "We both are."

"Whoa… that is so cool," the red-haired kid murmured appreciatively. "Dudes, we just creamed a pair of cops! I can't wait to tell my dad!"

"Hey! I wouldn't say that you creamed us," Danny protested, chuckling good-naturedly at the kid's excitement. "We held our own pretty good for a while there."

The smug looks on the faces of the youths surrounding him told Danny he was in the minority in his opinion when it came to their performance in the warehouse.

"Do you carry a real gun?" one of the boys asked. "Can we see it?"

"Yeah, I do," Danny said. "But no you can't. I don't wear it when I'm not on duty."

"Have you ever shot anyone? Like a real bad guy?"

"Um… yes, I have."

"What was it like?"

"Uh… pretty terrible, actually."

"Oh." There was a slight uncomfortable silence, until another kid piped up from the back of the group.

"Have you ever been shot? Like for real?"

"Okay, twenty questions is over," Flack said, rescuing Danny from the conversation he'd gotten himself into. "You boys have fun. Thanks for taking it easy on us old-timers."

"Aw, come on mister! Answer the question!"

"It's alright, Flack," Danny said. He turned back to the boys who were looking up at him expectantly. "Yeah. I have been shot. Hope it never happens again."

"Where?"

"Where what?"

"Where did you get shot?" the red-head asked, with wide, curious eyes.

"Right in the face. That's why he's so ugly," Flack interjected. "Come on, Danno. Let's go."

"Flack, what the hell is your problem?" Danny asked and Flack let out an exasperated sigh. Once again, Danny faced the kids. "I got shot in the back. Above my hip."

"Did it hurt?"

"Like a son-of-a-bitch," Danny said.

"And that's why you should never play with real guns," Flack interrupted yet again. "Let's go, Messer." He grabbed Danny's arm and dragged him out of the paintball facility and into the darkened parking lot.

"What crawled up your ass and died?" Danny asked, yanking his arm from Flack's grasp. "Jesus. I was just talking to those kids."

"Yeah, well. They ask too many questions," Flack grumbled.

"They weren't even asking you," Danny pointed out, perplexed by Flack's behaviour. "What's the big deal? Kids ask questions. So what? I figure if I give 'em an honest answer, maybe there's a couple kids in there that won't think guns are so cool anymore. And if you ask me, a few less people out there playing with real guns is a good thing."

They walked in silence until they reached Flack's car. He opened his door and got inside, reaching over the front seat to unlock the passenger door for Danny.

"Seriously, Don," Danny said, buckling his seatbelt, "What the hell is up with you? And don't tell me you're mad because we lost. I know you. You're not that bad a loser."

Flack gripped the steering wheel tightly, his eyes fixed on the array of lights shining up at him from the dashboard.

"I lost one of the most important people in my life to a gun," Flack said quietly. "And that same day… I almost lost my best friend. So I'm sorry if I'm a little pissy when it comes to… It's just something I try not to think about."

Danny stared silently back at Flack, who put the car in gear and began to manoeuvre the vehicle out into traffic.

"I'm sorry, Don," Danny said softly. "I didn't even think… I guess I was so caught up with myself back then… I didn't realize…"

"Hey, water under the bridge, Danno," Flack said lightly. "I really mean it. I don't blame you one bit for thinking about yourself. You had a lot of shit to deal with, you didn't need to add me to the list. And to tell you the truth, I didn't really stop to think about what it was you really went through. At the time, I was too busy wallowing in misery to be bothered to notice that maybe we could have had more fun being miserable together."

Danny chuckled wryly at Flack's comment. "You know what? I really did miss this," he said. "Just us hanging out. I'm glad you guilted me into spending more time with you. You're not half bad, you know that?"

"Yeah, well you're not half good, so I guess that makes us… what does that make us?"

"A whole lot of nothin'?" Danny suggested. Flack glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and the two of them burst out laughing at the slightly ridiculous turn their conversation had taken. "Alright, so that was lame. So sue me."

"Nah. I know what you earn in a year, and I'm sorry to say, you're just not worth it, buddy."

"Prick," Danny muttered. "Just for that, beers at Sullivan's are on you."

"Ah… then I might have to take a pass," Flack said, giving Danny a guilty smile. "Little short on cash."

"What?"

"Yeah… kind of spent it all on paintball."

"What do you mean? How much does paintball cost?"

"Well, not a lot for the two of us," Flack admitted. "But, well… I picked up the tab for those kids. Figured it'd be a nice thing to do, them letting us play with them and all."

"Aw, and the Grinch's heart grew three sizes that day," Danny laughed.

"Shut up," Flack muttered, blushing slightly as Danny continued to chuckle at him. "If you want that beer, you're buying."

"Deal," Danny agreed. "One beer. Then home."

Three hours later, one beer had turned into several pitchers, followed by a few rounds of shots. Leaving Flack's car parked outside Sullivan's, Danny and Flack had collapsed into a cab, Danny slurring directions to his apartment to the taxi driver.

"You don't think Lindsay's gonna mind?" Flack asked for the umpteenth time as Danny hauled him out of the taxi and up the front steps to his apartment building. "I don't think she wants to see me… well, any more of me... She saw me naked, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Danny replied, concentrating hard on getting the lock to stop moving long enough for him to insert his key. For some reason he kept missing the hole. "Fuck… stupid lock must be broken. My key won't work."

"I saw her naked too, Danno… but you weren't mad. You're a good guy."

"I am a good guy," Danny agreed, nodding his head drunkenly at Flack. "But just so you know… all clothes stay on in my house from now on, okay? No more accidents."

"Or else what?" Flack asked.

"Or else I'll… I'll… I don't know what… but it's gonna be bad."

"Oooh. I'm real scared," Flack teased. "You can't even open you're door."

"Can too," Danny said. "I just don't want to."

"You're an idiot," Flack said, grabbing the keys from Danny's hand. "Let me try." He struggled with the lock for a moment before shoving the keys back into Danny's hand. "You're right. The lock must be broken."

He stumbled over to the intercom and punched in Danny and Lindsay's apartment number. They listened to it buzz until Lindsay's sleepy and slightly annoyed voice came over the speaker.

"Who is it?" she mumbled, clearly not amused at being woken at this late hour of the night.

"Hi Lindsay!" Flack chirped. "Guess who!"

"Don?" she sounded confused. "Are you alright? Where's Danny?"

"I don't know," Flack slurred. "He's really short. He gets lost in crowds."

"What? Don, that's not funny. Where is he?"

"Baby, my key won't let us in," Danny explained, punctuating his sentence with a well-timed hiccup.

"Danny? Are you… drunk?" she asked, a hint of amusement creeping into her voice.

"What? Pfft. No," Danny assured her, shaking his head, his action causing his surroundings to swirl and blur in front of him. "Ugh… maybe a little."

"Okay, stay by the front door," Lindsay instructed them. "I'm coming down to get you. I don't want the two of you waking the whole building when your keys won't work in the other tenants' doors."

"See? That's why I love her. She's so smart," Danny said, beaming with pride at his friend. "Love you, baby!"

All he got in response was a click as Lindsay terminated their conversation. They sat on the front steps while they waited. Moments later, they heard the soft click of the front door opening and Lindsay stood staring down at the pair of them, clad in her pyjamas and housecoat with her pink fluffy slippers on her feet.

"You owe me so big for this, Messer," she said, hauling Danny to his feet. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Is it Business Time?" Danny asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her. "I like Business Time."

"Oh, mister. It is soooo not Business Time," Lindsay said, swatting his backside as she shoved him in the front door and proceeded to pull Flack to his feet.

"I'm not interested in Business Time," Flack informed her primly, albeit with a heavy slur to his words. "All clothes stay on, Lindsay. Only the first peek was free."

"Fine by me." Lindsay rolled her eyes as she led the two stumbling men into the elevator. The ride upstairs was fairly quiet, save for the occasional hiccup from Danny or Flack. Once on their floor, Lindsay urged them both to be quiet as she let them into the apartment. She pushed Danny in the direction of the bedroom while she grabbed a pillow and some blankets for Flack and made a bed for him on the couch. When it was ready, she smiled at him and he scrunched up his nose.

"You guys have sex on that couch," he whined. "I don't want to sleep there."

"Oh, my God," Lindsay muttered under her breath, letting out an exasperated sigh. "You know what?" she said in her normal voice, "I had it cleaned just for you, Don. No cooties. I promise."

"Yeah? Aw, that's really nice of you, Lindsay," he mumbled, patting her on the head. "You're a nice girl." Watching him crawl under the blankets, Lindsay rolled her eyes and shook her head. Then she got a bucket out from under the kitchen sink – just in case – and a bottle of water from the fridge, setting them on the floor beside Flack. "Night, Don."

As she turned and walked down the hall to the bedroom, she heard him let out a loud snore and she couldn't help but giggle. God, she was glad Danny wasn't a big snorer. She didn't know how she'd ever get any sleep.

Pushing open the bedroom door, she smiled at the sight of Danny lying face down on the bed. He let out a loud groan as she sat down beside him and rubbed his back.

"Oh, God," he moaned. "I don't feel good. Can you please stop the room from spinning? I want to get off now."

"Come on, babe. Let me help you get undressed. You'll feel better once you're in bed.

"I don't want to move!" he moaned. "Don't make me."

"You are gonna be hurting in the morning, honey," Lindsay said, kissing the top of his head. "I'm going to get you a glass of water and some Aspirin. Then I'm putting you to bed whether you like it or not."

Lindsay went to the bathroom to get the water and the painkiller for Danny. When she returned, Danny had managed to get himself into a sitting position and was tugging his shirt over his head. Lindsay waited patiently while he wrestled with his pants, forgetting to take off his shoes first and grumbling with frustration as his uncoordinated movements and alcohol-soaked brain refused to allow him to get his pants off.

With a sigh, Lindsay set the glass and pill down on his bedside table before she swatted Danny's hands away and helped him unlace his shoes. Then she pulled off his pants and got him tucked under the covers.

"Here. Take this," she instructed him, placing the pill in his palm and handing him the glass. She watched him toss back the pill and wash it down with the water, then he snuggled down under the covers and smiled up at her.

"Thank you," he said, his voice slightly less slurred than it had been when she'd first heard him over the intercom. "Love you."

"You're welcome, honey," she said. She stroked his head, kissing his forehead before she rounded the bed and crawled in on her side. "I love you too. Now go to sleep."

He rolled over so that his head was resting on her shoulder and he draped his arm across her stomach. "Not tired," he yawned.

"Uh huh," Lindsay sighed, fighting back her own yawn. "Good night, Danny."

She could feel Danny's body relaxing beside her, the weight of his arm over her stomach and she pressed another kiss to his forehead before reaching over and turning off the light on her bedside table. She lay staring at the ceiling for a moment, smiling as Danny mumbled unintelligibly to himself before he finally fell asleep, breathing deeply. Her eyes began to droop closed and she felt herself beginning to doze off with Danny holding her tightly and Flack's snores echoing loudly from the living room.

So? It feels a little meh to me. But then again, I think I'm always my own harshest critic. I was struggling to find something different and fun for Danny and Flack to do together… and I really wanted to have a little giggle with getting the two of them drunk. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and had a few laughs! More to come soon. : )

Please let me know what you thought. You know reviews are always welcome!

Oh, and just on the off chance you were interested, Danny's comments about Business Time are in reference to the song called (oddly enough) "Business Time" by Flight of the Conchords. In case it wasn't clear, Business Time refers to, well… you know. Sex. ;)

Fun fact about rhymes? In case you haven't read my profile, Flight of the Conchords is also where I got my name – in honour of their hilarious "rap" called Rhymenocerous vs. Hip-hopapotamus. If you haven't checked FOTC out already, you may want to do so. Seriously, seriously funny stuff!