Title: DVD Night
Fandom: Without a Trace
Pairing: Danny/Martin
Rating: PG
Word count: 1,200
Summary: It's DVD night at the Taylor-Fitzgerald house and the boys can't agree on what movie to choose.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I have no claim on either Danny or Martin. If I did, I'd buy Martin a clue (and some decent suits)
DVD Night"So, Danny, what DVD should I put on?" Martin asks, leafing through the joint collection, of which 99 belong to Danny.
"Erm… 9 and a half weeks. It should suit your food obsession, Martin." Danny smirks, fixing up two cups of hot chocolate before bringing them into the living room where Martin is waiting for him.
"Don't you mean your Mickey Rourke obsession, Danny? Don't think I haven't noticed." Martin takes his hot chocolate from Danny before sitting down on the couch, sulking. Danny remains standing.
"What do you mean?" Danny asks, sounding genuinely oblivious.
"You've got all his movies." Martin tries to keep the jealousy from his voice and fails miserably. "You must have seen 'Angel Heart' about 50 times!" Danny sighs before sitting on the couch next to Martin, taking a sip of his hot chocolate before putting it on the coffee table and turning to face his husband.
"I do wish you wouldn't exaggerate. I don't have all his movies and I've only seen 'Angel Heart' 17 times." Martin scoffs but Danny continues. "It's a really good movie! It's got Robert de Niro in it. He plays it well. Evil, but well. Trouble is, you can't help but compare de Niro to Mr. Pacino, it's like an unwritten rule or something. Al Pacino rocks in 'The Devil's Advocate', but he's even better as 'Serpico'."
"Sure, that explains your Pacino and de Niro films but what about the dozen or more with Mickey Rourke?" Danny sighs, realising he'll probably have to explain his entire DVD collection to his insecure husband. He's got a lot of DVDs: this could take a while.
"They're cool movies! He just happens to be in them. They're dark, gritty and more to the point fictional. No people were actually killed in the making of the film. They're intense and cool and fun. All style and all an act. Cool, crazy and completely entertaining. It's not real and I wouldn't like it if it was." Danny has kinda changed the subject but Martin hasn't noticed. He's too busy noticing the lack of war, depressing and tragic films based on true stories in Danny's DVD collection. Only a few horror movies too, the classics, and more than half of them black and white. Gee, you can really learn a lot about a guy from his DVD collection.
"We compare a lot of actors with each other, don't we? Every actor who ever plays Bond is living in Connery's shadow and Sir McKellan and Patrick Stewart are just more Sci-fi and Shakespearian Connerys and they're always paralleled with each other. Ken Branagh is always gonna be compared with Lawrence Olivier but I still like both of them." Martin is learning that Danny's a geek, but then again he always knew that he just didn't realise how MUCH of a geek Danny is.
"I pretty much like all Shakespeare. What Sir Ian did though, with 'Richard III', setting it in the 1930's that was amazing. Oh, and Mr. Branagh's 'Love Labours Lost' being set just before the 2nd World War with music from the 50's, that's a work of genius! Jeez, that guy can act, direct, write, sing, dance… everything!" Martin eyes the Branagh films, the Shakespeare films and the musicals in Danny's DVD collection.
"Musicals are cool. Songs have a terrific power to move people. It's not just for kids though but I have got a lot of children's musicals just because they're nice. Proof that you can make a good movie without sex and drugs and violence and swearing and when you watch them you can be a kid again. You can be all innocent again. And I still cry in 'The Lion King' every time Mufasa dies. Mufasa, voiced by Darth Vader. And Jeremy Irons voicing Scar, some superb casting for that film. The plot is based on Hamlet, you know?
"I like a lot of musicals. I like the classics a lot. "My Fair Lady" being one of my favourite. I'm not too sure about Rex Harrison though 'cos I heard he was mean. I mean, the guy did change his name to mean 'king' when he was just a kid. The songs are kind of sexist but Audrey Hepburn is a delight to watch. It's so unfair because she really wanted to sing but her voice was dubbed over. Julie Andrews was in the stage show. I absolutely adore her. I'm not sure anybody in the movie sang.
"Jeremy Brett looks so young in it! His song was dubbed over too. Bless him! I wish he wasn't dead; he's my favourite Holmes. Sure Holmes is quite misogynistic and treats Watson so appallingly but Brett's performance is so deliciously camp and entertaining, I love it! And he actually showed Holmes kicking his opium habit so he wasn't setting a bad example for the children. He's cool, he reminds me of Spock actually." Martin's eyes flicker from staring out Danny's collection of Sherlock Holmes DVDs to his Star Trek DVDs. He's got all the series, all the seasons, all the episodes. All the movies too.
"The original series is the best. So optimistic, so idealistic, a utopian idea of the future. Kirk is a bit of a jerk though, full of mach-nonsense. Spock is way cooler. He's the only true Vulcan. Well… half-Vulcan but all the others are inconsistent. Like Enterprise. I don't think Richard Berman and Brannon Braga actually care about the characterisation of T'Pol, only that Jolene Blalock stands around in that tight little cat suit of hers and looks pretty. She does… but that's neither… here nor… there." Danny forces himself to shut up, taking a gulp of his hot chocolate and regretting having the 6 shots of espresso, two pots of coffee and a delicious mocha frappucino which he's had today. Martin doesn't respond, he's too busy straining his eyes trying to read the titles of Danny's DVDs without bothering to move off the couch.
"Martin?" Danny bites his lip anxiously, awaiting a response from his husband. Martin eventually turns to Danny, keeping his face neutral.
"Okay. That explains pretty much all your collection." Danny lets out a sigh of relief. "Apart from one." Danny's eyes narrow in fear. "Far away? That's a lousy film. Please don't tell me you like Tom Cruise." Danny continues to bit his lip as he shakes his head. Martin continues to torture him. "Then what?"
"Nicky." Danny whispers, suddenly shy.
"Nicole Kidman?"
"She's smart. She's sexy. She's beautiful. She's an amazing actress, AND she can sing. She's like a younger Glenn Close and a more famous Kate Mulgrew all rolled into one. I am totally in love with her. Please don't hate me."
"I don't hate you."
"Please don't hate her."
"Danny, if I hated every actor you like I'd never be able to watch a movie ever again. Ever! You like everybody."
"True." A sheepish Danny replies, a blush creeping onto his cheeks. "But I like you more than all of them put together." And Martin can't find any sarcastic retort to that, especially with Danny being so sincere and all, so they decide to skip the DVD and go straight to the make-out session instead.
FIN