The garage is sweltering when I clock in on Tuesday. Anastasia's wearing a tank-top that shows off the top of her back tattoo, which I think is some kind of quote or phrase in Spanish, and her hair's pulled up on the top of her head. She looks ten million shades of pissed off when I show up.

"Hey, what am I doing today?" I ask, noting the general irritation written on Anastasia's face. Alex can get annoyed sometimes at work but overall, if someone's pissed off about a situation, it's usually Anastasia.

She meets my gaze and the look in her eyes reads 'don't ask'. My coworker Stephen is behind her, working on a Nissan Quest, and he glances up at me before shaking his head. Guess that means I really shouldn't ask. Good to know.

Anastasia sighs, running a hand through her hair before she gestures toward a Chrysler two bays down from where we're standing. "Start there. Needs an oil change and tire rotation. Keith called out of work tonight so I need you on until closing." Anastasia makes a face like the last thing she wants is to force me to stay until closing time but I don't mind. It's not like there's anything important waiting for me at home.

"That's fine," I say with a shrug, moving toward the car just as her phone rings. I can hear her voice distantly but as she moves further away, it's hard to make out individual words. She stops by the office, hovering outside for a few seconds before she disappears inside, her phone still pressed to her ear. I've never seen her look this stressed out before. Pissed as hell? Happens all the time. Stressed? That's usually reserved for Alex.

Stephen lets out a whistle. "Dude, you should have seen her earlier, she was so riled up. I seriously thought she was gonna rip a customer's head off with just her bare hands and some channel locks." He slams the lid closed on the car and swings a grease-stained rag over one shoulder.

"What's going on?" I ask, turning to face him. He shrugs one shoulder before turning his back to me, gathering up his tools, and I guess he knows as much as I do. I really hope it's nothing serious… Anastasia's usually always in a teasing mood even when she's pissed off. It's weird to see her so serious, that's normally Alex's job.

I recognize the car Stephen's working on and the familiar blonde driver comes bounding out of the waiting room with two soda cans in her hand. Star grins when she sees me, tossing one of the cans my way and passing the other off to Stephen.

"Hey, you finally showed up for work. Now Stephen can stop bitching about how busy it is here," Star says with a teasing lilt to her voice. Stephen rolls his eyes but doesn't deny that he was definitely bitching about me.

I crack open the soda and take a long drink before I pull away with a grin. "Yeah, well. The greatest mechanic alive has now clocked in so he can rest easy."

Stephen snorts, flipping me the bird. "Kiss my ass, Baxter."

Star's grinning as she looks between us and comes over to my bay when Stephen slides under her car again. She takes up the stool in the workspace, swinging her legs back and forth like a child as she watches me set out various tools that I'll need for the tire rotation.

"How's your day going?" Star asks, tugging her phone from her pocket.

I shrug, digging through the toolbox to find the oil wrench. "Good. Coach was impressed with a play I made." I find the oil wrench wrapped up in a rag and I easily separate the two. "Algebra wasn't nearly as terrible as usual cause Danny's a fucking godsend with this subject."

Star makes a soft noise, raising an eyebrow when I look at her. "Danny, huh? Yeah, he's… really smart." She drops her gaze to her phone for a second before looking up at me with a small smile. "He gave me some really good advice about how to help Derek when we were at the beach last month and… it seems to be paying off."

Oh yeah… They were talking at the beach, I remember that. Star's never been one to casually talk about her brother's insomnia but that's the only advice I can think of that Danny could offer. Though… since he's offering advice about insomnia, I wonder if he has personal experience with it…

I want to ask Star if Danny told her anything about dealing with it himself or if he just knows people that have but I can't find a way to phrase it. Other things nag at me and I chew on the words for a few long moments of silence before I find the balls to talk.

"Hey… Star?" I ask, barely glancing her way before I'm focused on the tools again. She lifts her gaze from her phone screen and watches me while I drag in a breath. "Um… at the beach…"

I trail my fingers along a wrench for a second or two before I look at her. "You told me… to be careful with Danny… you said that he might not be who I think he is. What… What'd you mean by that?"

Star pushes a breath out, pocketing her phone again. She runs a hand through her hair before she shakes her head. "Nothing, it's just… some things I've heard Roxane say about him." She shrugs like that's it but it can't be.

"Yeah? What'd she tell you?" I ask, abandoning my tools altogether. I lean against the front of the car I'm supposed to be working on.

"Nothing, she just…" Star trails off, shaking her head. "I don't know, she said she used to be in a couple classes with him and that he'd lie all the time about what he did over the weekend or who he hung out with." She shrugs. "You know Roxane though, that could be an exaggeration."

I really fucking hope it is. I don't think Danny's a liar… aside from the fact that I'm still pretty sure he's been lying about the shit his parents have done to him. Still… he doesn't strike me as someone that's capable of lying about everyday shit.

Star leaves the stool, offering up a smile as she passes by me. "I'll see you tomorrow, Dash," she says before she's heading toward the register where Stephen's waiting to ring her up.

Almost as soon as she leaves the shop, I hear a car engine rev behind me. I glance up at the noise and Alex climbs out of his car, slamming the door closed behind him. He doesn't bother locking it up before he's heading inside. He glances my way once before coming to a stop on the other side of the Chrysler I'm setting up to work on.

"Did Anastasia talk to you already?" he asks, glancing around the garage. He and his sister both seem pretty wound up and though I want to know what the hell's going on, I don't think he wants to tell me. I just work here, it's none of my business if something's wrong. Though that's not entirely true… Alex is way more than just my boss to me.

I flip the lid of my toolbox closed again before I nod. "Yeah, she told me that Keith called out of work so I'm supposed to stay until closing time." I tighten my hand around a wrench before loosening my grip as I let out a breath. "Is something wrong?"

Alex meets my gaze and though he shakes his head, his smile tells me a completely different story. "No, everything's fine. Don't worry about staying until closing. Just do what you want and leave whenever, alright? I'll pay you for the full shift, don't worry." He reaches out and pats me on the shoulder, that fake smile still in place, before he turns around and heads for the office.

I watch him go before I glance in Stephen's direction. He looks just as confused as I do but we don't say anything more. We fall silent as he continues gathering up his tools and I start setting mine out. I debate on starting with the tire rotation first but I decide on changing the oil.

"Hey," someone says from behind me and when I turn to look, I expect Stephen, or maybe even Alex. But it's Danny staring back at me. He's smiling but it's a shy sort of smile. Like maybe he's worried about how today's gonna go. Hell, I'm worried about how today's gonna go.

It takes me a few seconds before I realize I haven't said anything back, all of my great responses in my head alone, and I stumble over the few words I choose to go with. "H-Hey, man. How'd… it go at… the doctor's?"

A strange expression passes over his face as he steps closer to me, his gaze darting to my toolbox before he's looking at me again with another smile. "It went fine." He crosses his arms, his smile widening a little before he speaks again. "What about you? How's your day been?"

I don't feel like my day's really started until right now. When he's talking and I'm listening. Sh-Shit, that sounds weird. That's definitely not what friends think about each other. Goddammit, why do I have to be just friends with him?

"Ha… uh.. f-fine," I respond, scratching the back of my head as I look around for my shop creeper. I try not to think about what Star said about him and instead, I just focus on him. Which doesn't really help cause Danny makes me nervous. Man, I really hope I don't fuck up today like I did last time he was here. I want to prove to him that I can do stuff right sometimes. "I made an uh… I made a decent play during practice today, Coach was impressed," I tell him, finally spying my creeper, several spaces over from where I normally leave it. Danny's quiet as I grab it but he speaks as soon as I turn back to him.

"Sounds like your day's been pretty good so far." He crosses in front of me and sinks down on the stool while I set about jacking the car up. "Hopefully, I won't do something to ruin it for you," he says with a small laugh and I don't think he has any clue that he can only ever make my day better. Shit, am I really being that lame?

I sink down onto my creeper, gesturing to the table behind Danny. "Will you hand me that rag?"

He glances at the table before leaning forward to grab it, passing it off to me with a smile. "You know… I wouldn't mind if this kinda became our thing. I-I tutor you one night and you show me stuff about cars the next day," he says, propping his elbows onto his knees as he watches me.

There's something about his posture that reminds me of that oversized t-shirt he was wearing yesterday and I pretty much hate myself for thinking about it at all. Cause it only reminds me of his collarbones and of standing in his driveway as his shoulder brushed against mine, his soft voice telling me things about stars that would bore me coming from anyone else but god, coming from him, they were the most fascinating things in the world.

"I-I… wouldn't mind that either. And… we both know I could use the tutoring," I respond, doing my best to sound casual as I give him what I'm sure is a really shitty smile. He doesn't say anything about it so I take that as a good sign and slide underneath the car. "So, today's problem is just changing out the oil which I can't really show you cause I don't have another creeper. But after this, I gotta rotate the tires out so I'll show you how to do that."

My hands are sweaty as I use the oil wrench to loosen the cap but I manage to loosen it with only a little bit of a struggle. I slide a container under the cap before I twist it off the rest of the way, the scent of oil permeating the rest of the garage as soon as it starts emptying out of the car.

"Wait a second. You actually traded your knowledge of all things cars for tutoring lessons?" Stephen asks with a laugh as I slide out from under the car. He meets my gaze when I look at him and the amusement is clear on his features. "That's not even fair, your knowledge is far superior than lessons on a school subject."

I roll my eyes as I stand. "Yeah, well. You've never seen Danny in action before. It's more than an even trade," I respond, glancing toward Danny. His face is flushed but he's smiling at least. God, he looks so fucking adorable when he's embarrassed. If a painter wanted to capture the perfect blush, they'd only need to look at Danny's face for a few seconds to memorize it. I know I have already.

"Man, come on. Experience trumps knowledge, Baxter," Stephen says, sinking down on the stool one bay over from where Danny and I are. He slides his phone from the pocket of his uniform and glances over the screen for a second before pocketing it again, addressing Danny when he speaks. "What are you tutoring him in anyway?"

Danny's face is still flushed when I look at him and he won't meet my gaze. "A-Algebra," he says softly, glancing up at Stephen after a few seconds. "He's not actually that bad at it… he just gets confused sometimes."

Stephen rolls his eyes with a snort, standing up from the stool. "Yeah, right. That's just the nice way of saying he's a bone head." He starts going through his toolbox again and I'm pretty sure most of the oil is drained at this point.

"I just gotta put the new oil can on, won't take long," I tell Danny, plopping down onto my creeper again, one hand around the oil can. I slide underneath the car and I fidget with a few bolts on the underside for a few seconds before I screw the new canister on.

In the back of my mind, I think I know that the groaning I'm hearing isn't from the oil can but from the car itself. I don't think it hits me that the car is falling until the shrieking sound of metal scraping metal fills my ears. Danny screams my name, the sound ringing out through the shop before I have time to register that the car is actually crashing down toward my face.

Danny's hand around my ankle is the only thing I feel and I blink in the sudden brightness of the shop. I feel cold suddenly and yet, there's something warm on my forehead. I'm staring up at the ceiling of the shop instead of the underside of a car and Danny's hand is clenched so tightly around my ankle, I know it's gonna bruise.

"D-Dash, are you okay?" Danny asks, suddenly beside me. His hands are trembling and he presses one to my forehead, making a strangled noise when he touches the warmth. When he pulls his hand away, I catch the sight of red before he can hide it. Shit, I'm bleeding?

Stephen's voice rings out in the shop, quieter than Danny's was when he yelled my name but still almost deafening to me. "What the fuck, Baxter? Why the hell didn't you put this car on stands? You got a death wish or some shit?"

Stands..?

I blink up at the two of them, trying to remember the last thing that happened before the car almost crushed my face. "Uh…" I barely remember anything about the last few minutes but I feel like I would remember putting the car on jack stands like it's supposed to and… I don't remember doing that at all.

"Dash, look at me, are you okay?" Danny asks, his voice sounding more panicky the longer I stare up at them without speaking more than one syllable. I can't string together more than one word, my brain a complete jumble.

Stephen comes to stand beside Danny, his arms folded across his chest as he stares down at me, and I flit my gaze between the two of them. Jesus, I can't speak at all, the words are just stuck in my head.

"What's going on?" Alex's voice has joined in now and after a few seconds, he steps into my vision, staring down at me with concern etched into his features. Danny shakily explains about the car and how I managed to slide out from under it in time but… I don't remember sliding out at all. All I remember is the feeling of Danny's hand around my ankle.

Alex kneels down next to me, brushing hair away from my temple. "Stephen, go to the office and tell Anastasia to bring the medical kit." Alex meets my gaze again, letting out a breath. "Dash? Are you okay?"

I think I'm okay. I mean, I'm still breathing so I think I'll be fine. But damn that could have been so much worse. Not that my face is anything to write home about but god, I couldn't imagine if it ended up being permanently smushed in. I'd look like one of those pug dogs.

"Y-Yeah… I think so…" I mumble, looking between Danny and Alex before I swallow, the sound loud in the silence of the shop. Shit, did that actually just happen? Was I almost crushed by the car and the only thing that stopped me was Danny pulling me out in time?

Alex helps me sit up, one arm around my back to steady me. "Don't move too much, Dash… you're still bleeding."

I move a hand up to touch my forehead but Danny grabs my hand in his trembling fingers, dragging mine away from my head. There's a mixture of concern and fear on his face and he looks like he's seconds away from puking.

"P-Probably shouldn't touch it," he mumbles, bringing my hand back down to my lap. I let his fingers slide in between mine and I hold his gaze for as long as he lets me. Which is all of three seconds because Anastasia and Stephen are back with the medical kit.

Anastasia passes it off to Alex before she nods toward me, folding her arms over her chest. "What'd you do, squirt?"

Normally, I'd probably react to the nickname, especially considering she's calling me it in front of Danny but I don't care right now. Cause I can still feel Danny's fingers in mine and damn, he's shaking hard. I didn't mean to scare him or anyone really.

"A car almost fell on me," I respond and Anastasia's eyebrows rise on her forehead. She glances toward Stephen and he scoffs, apparently deeming me well enough to take a punch on the shoulder.

"This damn idiot didn't put the car on stands while he was changing the oil," he says, crossing his arms as he continues. "I've told him a million times to pay attention when he's working but you know how he can be sometimes. Just gets lost in his own little world and-"

Stephen stops suddenly and when I tear my gaze away from his, I realize why. Alex is staring at me, his expression unreadable as he reaches out to me, his grip firm on my shoulder. "Dash," he says, no hint of lightness to his tone. I feel my stomach crawl up my ass and shoot out again before he speaks. "Why didn't you use stands?"

Jesus, like I did it on purpose? Why would I willingly let a car fall on my face?

"I-I forgot," I mumble, somehow still holding Alex's gaze. He could drill holes into a brick wall with his stare right now and I hate being on the receiving end of it. Danny squeezes my hand in some kind of reassurance but it doesn't do much with his hand trembling the way it is.

Alex finally looks away from me and digs through the medical kit, opening up an alcohol pad before he looks at me again. He closes one hand around my chin and turns my face the way he needs it to be before he uses the pad to clear away some of the blood. I didn't expect it to sting like a bitch and the inhale I take is a little more pained than I wanted it to sound.

"Sorry," Alex says, swiping the pad a little gentler the second time. After a third pass, the blood is cleared away but he and Anastasia both seem concerned about how fast blood is rushing to the surface again.

Danny's hand is still shaking but his voice sounds stronger than I expected it to. "Do you think he needs to get stitches?" he asks, glancing between Anastasia and Alex, who both look like they forgot he was even here.

Alex shakes his head, applying a butterfly closure to one end of the wound. "No." He applies a second and third closure before he deems it okay. After a few seconds of looking the injury over again, he glances toward Danny, shaking his head again. "No. It's a head injury so it's expected to bleed a lot. We only have to be concerned if the bleeding won't stop," he says, looking my way again.

"If anyone's gonna be the overachiever and need stitches, it's gonna be Dash and you know it," Anastasia says, grinning when I look her way. She hesitates a second before the grin slips away and she nods toward me again. "You feeling okay?"

I nod. "Yeah, I'm good… I wasn't finished though…" I mumble, glancing back toward the car.

"Well you are now," Alex responds, fixing me with a stare when I start to argue. "Dash. I'm not letting you back under a car right now," he says, standing up. He reaches down and pats my shoulder. "Seriously, you're done for the night."

He holds his hand out toward me and I take it, Danny and I standing up together. Our hands are still linked but from the way we're standing, the only one that would be able to tell is Alex and he doesn't say anything about it.

"I don't want you going home yet," Alex says, glancing toward Danny after a few seconds of silence. "Do you think you could stay with him for a little while? Ana and I…" He glances toward his sister with a soft exhale. "Have to finish up a few things but I can take him home after that."

I scoff, shaking my head when Alex looks back at me. "No, Danny can go home. And I can take myself home, Alex. I'll text you to let you know I got home safe, okay? I'll even-"

"Yeah, I can stay with him," Danny responds, like I'm not standing right here. He squeezes my hand when I look in his direction but he won't meet my gaze. Ugh, is he for fucking real? He's just gonna do what Alex asks him to? Just cause I scraped my head a little?

Alex relaxes, nodding immediately. "Alright, I'll come find you when I'm finished." He looks toward Stephen, passing the medical kit off to Anastasia again. "Stephen, will you grab some stuff from the vending machines for them?"

"I'm fine," I stress but he doesn't listen to me, completely ignoring my voice as he continues rattling off directions to my coworker, something about adrenaline and needing food and whatever. "Seriously, my head doesn't even hurt. Look at least let me finish the car, alright? I'll be careful, I promise."

Alex turns back to me, shaking his head. "No, I'll handle the car tomorrow. You just sit down somewhere and take it easy." He gestures to the waiting area and Danny immediately begins leading me toward it. Ugh, damn all of them for being concerned about me. It's not like the injury was that bad. Alex even said I didn't need stitches.

"This is bullshit," I mumble as Danny pulls me toward the waiting area. Anastasia and Alex disappear inside the office again and Stephen beats us to the room mainly cause Danny's pulling me along like I'm eighty years old and I have trouble crossing the street on my own.

Stephen hands off two sodas when Danny and I settle down in the waiting area. "Here, try not to hurt yourself again, Alex might have my head," he says with a smirk and I respond with the middle finger, which only makes him laugh. Damn it, I just want to finish the car, I'm capable of doing that much at least.

"H-Here, let me help you." Danny reaches to take the can from me, like I'm incapable of doing this simple task on my own. I don't need anybody's help opening up a damn soda.

"I got it," I respond, opening the can before I look at him again. "See?" I take a sip from it and he fidgets next to me, keeping silent as his hand trembles around his own can. He won't look at me and I can't help but feel like an ass. He's only trying to help.

Danny starts when I put my hand on top of his, stopping his soda from shaking. We hold each other's gaze as I set my can on the floor and pull his from his hand. I didn't need his help but he clearly needs mine. "Let me do it," I say, popping the top with the side of my thumb. The fizz reaches the top of the opening but it doesn't overflow. After a second of watching the retreating cola, I hand the can off to Danny.

His fingers tremble when he takes it from me and we quietly sip from our drinks in the silence. I guess I'm just supposed to wait around for Alex to take me home but Danny can go at any time, there's no need for him to hang around and waste his evening.

"You can go if you want to," I say with a sigh, running a hand through my hair. This is complete bullshit but there's no reason we both have to suffer through the boredom of hanging around until Alex is ready to take me home.

Danny shifts a little in his chair but he doesn't make a move to leave and I guess part of me is glad that he's not going anywhere. His hand is still shaking around his soda and I wish there was something I could say to help him. Shit, I don't even know how to help myself but there's gotta be some way I can reach him.

"Wanna talk about what's bothering you?" I ask, meeting his gaze when he looks my way. He shakes his head slowly and looks away almost as quickly as he looked at me. I can't help but feel like whatever's bothering him has something to do with me. I'm sure he has a bunch of other shit on his mind but he wasn't shaking before the car nearly fell on me. Maybe it just shook him up but something is nagging at me, telling me that it's more than that.

Just as I've mustered up the courage to talk, fill the silence so he'll get distracted and start to feel normal again and the shakiness will subside, Danny puts his hand on my knee. His touch is warm and though I start a little at the suddenness of his hand, I don't flinch away from him.

He exhales out heavily before speaking, his voice shaking on the few words. "I-I'm glad… y-you're okay, Dash," he whispers in the near silence and shivers crawl up my spine. The tone of Danny's voice is borderline terrified and I don't know how to help him now.

"Me too," I respond softly, shifting just far enough to place my hand over top of his. He doesn't flinch like I expected him to. He barely reacts at all so I don't pull back. "I would've looked fugly with a pug face," I mumble.

Danny's quiet next to me but he finally looks my way, his expression stuck somewhere around confused as hell. "What?" His eyebrows are drawn downward and I'm so focused on that little strip of skin between his brows that's creased with his expression, I almost forget that he spoke at all.

"Y'know, cause their faces are smushed in," I respond, shrugging a little when he blinks at me. "I don't know man, it was the first thing that came to mind." Once the car was hurtling toward my face, everything else kinda left my brain.

He's silent at first but he presses the back of his hand to his mouth to stifle laughter, the skin around his eyes crinkling up as he holds my gaze. I grin and he can't hold back the laughter anymore, the sound filling the waiting area and quickly becoming infectious. Within a matter of seconds, we're both laughing and I don't think it's just cause of the shitty joke. I think we're both pretty relieved that the worst that happened to me was a scrape on my forehead.


Stephen checks in with us before he leaves but by seven thirty, Danny and I are alone. When the silence falls over us after my coworker leaves, I guess we're both expecting it to be awkward as hell cause we start talking at once.

Danny smiles and I'm a little star struck by how cute his smile is. "You go first," he says, the smile never leaving his face. Shit, I forgot what I was gonna say, I'm too focused on that expression he's wearing instead. I don't think I remember my own name.

"U-Uh… I was just gonna ask h-how your head is," I mumble. He's got a bandage over the area that he cut on Saturday but it's not the one I put on him. This one has some kind of superhero on it and Danny's face flushes when I lean closer to look at it.

With a shaky hand, I trace the edge of the bandage with my index finger and Danny lets me. He leans in to the touch and his eyes fall closed. My heart is beating so fucking loudly in my own ears, I can barely hear anything else.

Danny draws in a breath and he looks up at me, bright eyes shining as he speaks. "I-It's feeling better," he says, his voice practically a whisper in the quiet of the waiting area. Even though I've stilled my hand on his forehead, I can't bring myself to pull away.

We hold each other's gaze and I don't miss the slight flush to his cheeks. His swallow is loud in the silence and I only drop my hand from his forehead cause I'm dangerously close to kissing him. And I can't do that. I have no idea if he'd even like kissing me or if he'd like kissing guys at all and I can't r-

I think for a second my heart stops. Like actually, physically stops beating. It's the only way to explain the complete cold that rushes through me. I have no idea if Danny likes the idea of kissing guys… but I'm apparently okay with it. Sh-Shit, am I… gay?

"Is something wrong?" Danny asks softly and I can't bring myself to look at him. I guess it hasn't hit me until right now but holy fucking shit, I actually like Danny. And he's a guy. I don't know what the fuck that makes me but it sure as hell isn't straight.

I shake my head as I pull away from him, wishing I had some kind of explanation to give Danny – something that didn't make me sound like a loser or the truth, which is that I'm suddenly questioning my sexuality. Shit, I don't even know where to start with this. I like Danny. A whole fucking lot. But maybe everyone goes through this once in their lives? Maybe everyone has a moment where they suddenly start to question things but turns out, they're still straight.

Danny's hand covers mine and I know I jump at the touch. I don't understand why it's suddenly hitting me but I want Danny in every way that I can have him and I guess that makes me gay. I don't know if I want to be gay but I want Danny.

"Dash, what's wrong?" he asks, his voice soft on my name. I want to hear him repeat it a thousand times. Hear him whisper my name. Sing it, stutter it, fucking moan it. I want my name to be the first thing his lips speak every morning and I want it to be like that cause I wanna be the one he wakes up next to.

I lift my gaze to the ceiling like I'm hoping for some kind of higher power to help me out of this… then again, I doubt any higher power would be interested in helping out a fucked-up football player that might possibly play for the other team. The silence is crushing and it's still just me and Danny. I don't know how to even begin processing my feelings for him and his touch on my skin isn't helping.

Danny exhales shakily when I pull my hand away from him and I wish there was a way to let him know that it's not him. It's me. It's fucking me and my inability to realize how I feel until the moment when I should have it already figured out.

"Sh-Should I be worried about you?" Danny asks softly and I shake my head. There's no need for him to be concerned about me. I'm just a dick who doesn't know how I feel about other people. It's not Danny's fault that he's the one I haven't decided about.

He hesitates but places a hand on my cheek, turning my face toward him. "Is it your mom?" he asks, eyebrows drawn down in concern. Fuck, I wish it was. I never thought I'd long for the times when mom was the cause of my angst. But I'd kill for her disappearing act to be the reason I'm retreating inside myself.

I hate lying to Danny but I can't stop myself from nodding. It's easier than telling the truth and it's not like I'm hurting anyone. Danny tsks softly and shakes his head. After a second or two of silence, he gently pulls me toward him and I let him guide me into his arms. My chin rests on his shoulder and he rubs my back. I hate myself for how much I love being in this position with Danny. It's not fair of me to let him hold me like this when it's only a hug to him.

My eyes fall closed and Danny whispers softly that everything's gonna be okay. My heart wants his words to be the truth and I don't know when it got so easy to lie to myself. Cause he keeps holding me and I convince myself that everything will work out. Maybe the things I feel are normal and maybe it means I'm gay… I don't care in this moment. Cause this moment is being in Danny's arms. And Danny's arms are the most comforting place I've ever been.


A/N:

I'm such a tease

Yoooo! How's your week been? Happy to have you back for another update in this angsty and shippy as fuck fic. I've been reading your comments and reviews these past few days and they mean the world to me. Thank you for sticking with this project

First things first, Dash has finally reached the point of realizing he has a little thing for Danny… and that it miiiiiight mean he's not entirely straight anymore… this poor boy. All he wanted was a chill senior year and a couple of football games. What he got instead was the biggest crush on the biggest nerd ever

Dash is struggling with the thought of liking Danny but more with the thought of being gay - cause with a father like his, he doesn't think he has another choice than to just be straight. More of Dash's thoughts and beliefs about himself are going to come out in the next few chapters and I'm looking forward to reading your reactions to those parts

So the car almost falling on Dash… I'm not even gonna say anything about this one, I'm just waiting for what you guys have to say about it. (I lied, I will say this: protective and caring Alex is the best) What about the way Alex and Anastasia were acting? Any speculations there?

This week's chapter title comes from Vance Joy's 'From Afar'. If you haven't heard it, consider giving it a listen, it's definitely worth checking out - and it reminds me of the way Dash sees Danny

That's pretty much all I have to say for this week (wooo actual plot development!) I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and if you did – consider letting me know in the reviews/comments?

I hope you're having a great day and I'll see you guys next chapter!