Here
A/N: Hello everyone. I'm back. *does victory twirl* To anyone wondering, this isn't the final chapter...yet. I'm torn between having the next chapter be the final chapter or a hybrid between the final and an epilogue. But it will come to me when it comes to me, I guess. :D
Special Thanks to my beta, Harmony Valenka Smith for all her help and ideas!
And an enormous thanks to those who read/review/favorite/follow, you guys are the best.
I just saw the Amazing Spiderman 2 in theatres and I loved the movie but loved the soundtrack even more. 'Here' by Pharrell really spoke to me and thus this was created. Hope you all enjoy.
And I, I promise on all existence
If it breathes then it is our witness
We have unfinished business
You and I
And so my word is that I'll cross those bridges
With zero regret for limits
And distance, you and I-Here by Pharrell.
"Well if people are buying tears, then we'll be rich some day."-Look what they've done to my song.
Daffy felt weightless, untethered, free and floating. He had called in and asked for a few days off from work, something he had never done for the entire time he worked at PSU, and decided to wholly submerge himself in the mission to get Bugs back.
Carrie was a blessing, her friend Zach who Daffy sort of suspected was closer to her than she let on, had helped her procure a van for the trip to Malibu. Staying true to undercover/spy tradition, they stopped by a thrift store (funny enough their little corner of Los Angeles didn't have a spy store) in the next town over and bought nothing but all black clothing, then went into a department store and gathered a few walkie-talkies and some rope, Daffy quickly shot down Carrie's attempts to buy more advanced surveillance equipment seeing that they didn't want to draw even more attention "you know what with the van and the dark clothing and the pale skin."
But no matter how smoothly everything was going and how confident Carrie was with the plan, Daffy still felt a little uneasy. Nothing was going to stop him of course, he wanted Bugs back but it was far more complicated than that. Daffy couldn't just be single-minded at times when other concerns demanded his attention. What if Bugs didn't want to come back? Then what? What if Bugs didn't want him? Whatever feelings Bugs thought he had for Daffy could have changed in the three months that they were apart.
And Daffy would have to live with that. He would have to return to the hideous black and white world that existed whenever Bugs wasn't in it. The world he had no problem living in until Bugs came and shook it upside down. But he was a man who believed in fairness and if Bugs didn't want him—no matter how much he didn't want to think of that probable possibility—then he would leave him be. But Bugs needed to know the truth, how Daffy felt about him even if he no longer felt or never had felt the same.
"So I was figuring that I could distract him while you put like a bag over his head and we get him out of there." Carrie was saying to Daffy from her position in the driver's seat.
Daffy nodded, completely dead set with the plan. He was ready to just get in and get out, deciding it would be no use worrying about what he was going to say to Bugs and the other man's reaction when the real issue was getting Bugs into the van in the first place; the man was a capable fighter and would probably put up more of a scrap if he saw two unrecognizable people donned in black attempting to kidnap him. And Daffy had never won any fights in his lifetime.
He mentioned this to Carrie who merely shrugged. "We'll find a way." She assured, rubbing his shoulder with the hand that wasn't on the steering wheel.
And in that huge, presumptuous vehicle on a one and a half hour drive to a city they've never been, where the fate of his relationship and his happiness hung in the balance, Daffy felt a sense of calm in the unknown. He gave Carrie a rare, but promising smile.
The day was creeping to an end but with every aching tick of the clock, the hands seemed to wrap themselves around his throat and stifle more and more of the breath he struggled to get into his lungs, suffocating him with their sluggish progress as each minute passed and every second was one step closer he was to just giving up completely.
As melodramatic as it seemed, Bugs couldn't stand to be home any longer. Granted, the amount of garden parties his parents hosted and the ones he had to attend had diminished slightly, he still found himself having to accompany his parents to every boring event they were invited to so they could, "look more like a family."
It was driving Bugs bonkers. The entire day they spent at a gala to raise money for the Arts, which wasn't too bad except his father insisted that they bring Clarisse, who Bugs was finding as easy to ditch as a freaking limb.
Honestly, the parties, and the stuffy rich people, and the crappy food were a lot to manage already, but now he had to deal with a girl who took an unhealthy liking to him that he couldn't reciprocate and a father who could care less what his son wanted if it wasn't in the best interest of his family's reputation.
And now he was going to a dinner with his parents and Clarisse, which he was looking forward to with as much enthusiasm as he would for watching paint dry.
His reflection stared back at him in the mirror as he attempted to fix his tie before Chives would inevitably come to him at his father's request.
"You don't want to do this." The man in the mirror stated, he wore black leather and was pierced and tattooed, his gray hair cut into a crop top, looking everything like Bugs was before he left.
Bugs chuckled without humor as he averted his gaze back to the tie he was wrestling with. "This is where I belong."
The man didn't seem too convinced. "You belong back there, with him, that's where you were happy. Not here with them. What happened to you man?"
Taking his hand and rubbing the mirror until the man disappeared, Bugs whispered. "I grew up."
He wrestled with the tie once more before sighing and throwing it to the ground. When his eyes returned to the mirror, the man wasn't there; instead, there stood a handsome, young suitor in an immaculate suit with wizened eyes that seemed as if they once held a spark in their whisper blue depths but lost that spark a long time ago. It scared him.
Quickly, he picked the tie up off the ground and left the room without sparing the mirror so much as a second glance.
They pulled up in front of a posh restaurant that Carrie, with her new fan dangled iPhone that Daffy wouldn't be able to figure out without renting a dozen books in the library on its mechanics, found where Bugs was dining with his parents.
Psyching himself up for it, Daffy told his sister to wait in the car as they didn't want to crowd Bugs and that maybe everything would go a lot smoother if he could convince Bugs to come willingly. A plan that Carrie reluctantly agreed to, though it swayed the course from the original.
Daffy wasn't going to just waltz in with his spy outfit, he was terribly under dressed, so he scaled the restaurant until he found a window a few feet above his head where long creepers lined the outside walls just enough for him to climb.
He had to hurry before someone caught him. To his luck, the most he could probably get mistaken for was probably a paparazzo. And where was the Mission Impossible theme song when you needed it? He felt like a spy about to save the world.
With the startling lack of physical vigor he possessed, Daffy managed to climb the vine and reach the window. He told Carrie this, through the walkie-talkie.
From the window, Daffy could see most of the huge restaurant and was taken aback by how fancy it was.
He peered through it until he could get a visual on Bugs and the sight he witnessed almost toppled him off the vine. Daffy's memories of Bugs didn't compare to seeing him in person. For many reasons they didn't quite do him justice. The grey-haired man sat at a table in the middle of the room, the soft glow of a candle illuminating his features clearly, where the sharpness of his jaw was so pronounced, it seemed as if it could be traced or the soft brush of his hair could be felt across Daffy's fingertips if he stared hard enough. Bugs looked different. Like it was him but it also wasn't. His hair had grown longer, tied into a ponytail while his normal biker clothes were switched for something less edgy and more formal but nonetheless attractive. The blue of his eyes seemed to glow in the dimly lit restaurant as he stared dejectedly at a plate of untouched food.
Carrie's voice brought Daffy out of his reverie. "Daffy get in, get out. Remember? Over."
"Roger that, Carrie. Over." His eyes returned to Bugs' table where he then realized that Bugs was not alone. He sat with three people. An older couple who Daffy guessed immediately was Bugs' parents by their resemblances to him, and a young woman.
She sat closer to Bugs than Daffy's liking and whispered things into his ear that made Daffy grit his teeth, imagining all the things she was probably saying. If Daffy were honest, he'd say she was a pretty thing: nice, auburn brown hair and striking amethyst eyes that shone brighter than Bugs'. But Daffy didn't like her one bit especially with how chummy she was acting around the grey-haired man.
Then the girl did something Daffy could only deem unforgivable: she held Bugs' hand in hers and gave him a kiss on his cheek.
Daffy was so furious he hadn't realized he was tapping on the glass to get Bugs' attention until he felt it give in to the pressure and slide open where he landed quite ungracefully onto the table of an elderly couple eating their meal.
When Daffy looked up it seemed like every eye in the restaurant was on him while the elderly couple who's table he fell on top of stared at him with true horror.
He mumbled an apology to them along with a slight smile and a "you should try the rigatoni here, it's great" until he felt two strong waiters hoist him up off the table and demand he give them an explanation.
As he tried to gather the correct words, because try as he might there was just no reasonable explanation for his entrance, someone pushed through the crowd to see him. "Daffy?" Bugs stared incredulously at the raven-haired man covered head to toe in shrimp linguine and spaghetti Neapolitan.
"Bugs?" Came Daffy's brilliant response.
"What are you doing here?" Bugs asked but the older couple and the young woman came forward. "Ashton, do you know this man?" Inquired the older woman with the mousey brown hair but same magnetic blue eyes as Bugs.
Bugs nodded. "I do."
"What is this?" An older man with gray hair and emerald green eyes piped up beside the older woman.
It was then that Daffy decided to collect himself. He shrugged out of the waiters' grip and took an uneasy step towards Bugs.
"I-I came to talk to you but I can see now that that was a mistake. Enjoy your meal. I won't bother you again."
He turned to walk off when the young woman slipped her arm around Bugs', but to his surprise, Bugs politely shrugged her off to grab Daffy's wrist. "We need to speak in private." He said and led them to a secluded corner away from the angry and curious crowd.
"I know it's hokey but I came back for you. T-to tell you how I feel." Daffy explained, rubbing the back of his neck with a nervous hand.
When Bugs made a gesture for Daffy to continue, he went on. "And how I feel is, well it's one of those things that you can't confuse. Like I know in my heart that it's real and precise and so, so natural. It's as if I'm breathing when you're around and when you're gone it's like all the color and air and joy is just sapped from my world.
"I know, that you can do so much better without me and I know that it's for the best that you and I stay separated but I can't pretend to be happy living like this, like it isn't killing me to remember your voice or your smile and know that you're no longer around. You might have saved me from getting beat up that night but the reality is that you save me every single day just by existing. You don't even have to wonder if I love you because the truth is; I loved you before I even knew your name."
When Daffy looked up Bugs was staring at him, his piercing eyes unreadable. He was silent for a long time before piping up. "It's a little too late for that Daffy. What did you come here expecting? My forgiveness?"
Daffy was shocked. "Well, um no. But I guess you have every right to be mad. I did say some things that were uncalled for and I really should have heard you out."
"Daffy?"
"I wasn't the best person to you."
"Daffy?"
"But dammit, I wanted to tell you how I felt—" warm lips pressed against his, shutting him up immediately. The kiss was brief but Daffy still felt his heart stuttering in his chest.
"What was that for? I thought you were mad at me?" Daffy asked when Bugs pulled away.
"I'm not." Bugs shrugged. "I was just messing with you, only to see that cute blush spread to your cheeks again." He smiled and his eyes twinkled mischievously.
Daffy blinked. "So we're good? What about that girl?"
"Clarisse? She's just a friend. I told you, I'm not into chicks."
"Right," Daffy beamed. "in that case." He grabbed the lapels of Bugs' suit and pulled him into a deeper kiss, uncaring of the many eyes probably staring at them or the pasta drying on his skin.
"Mom, Dad, Clarisse, this is my boyfriend: Dexter Mallard or as many call him: Daffy." Bugs announced to the startled faces studying him and the arm he held protectively around Daffy.
Daffy gave them all a polite smile before extending his hand out. Bugs' mom was the only one who shook his hand, Clarisse and Bugs' dad looked at Daffy as if his touch would burn.
"Ashton, why do you insist on tarnishing the family name?" Bugs' dad spat, making Daffy wince but when he looked at Bugs, the other man seemed unperturbed by his father's utterance.
"I don't care what you have to say. This is the man I love. And no amount of rich-guy conditioning is going to change that. But I'm not asking you to accept him; you have enough of a hard time accepting me as it is."
Bugs' dad's mouth fell open and he looked shell shocked, then Bugs turned to Clarisse. "I'm sorry Clarisse but I'm not the guy you're looking for, believe me you'll find him someday." He paused to kiss Daffy's cheek, "and it might be in the most unlikely place."
"Mom, I love you." Bugs told the teary eyed woman, "but this place isn't for me. I'm happy you and Dad are back together but I can't conform to this life of rules and restrictions. Whenever you want to talk, I'll always be a phone call away."
They were about to walk away when Bugs' father called out. "Son?"
Bugs turned around. "What is it Dad?"
The man walked up to them and Daffy felt Bugs stiffen. Placing a hand on Bugs' shoulder, the man stared at the two of them with green eyes shining with unshed tears. "You've grown into a fine young man, my boy. If I've ever been tougher on you than normal, please understand that it was because your grandfather was like that with me."
He gave Daffy an acknowledging nod before wrapping his arms around them both in a group hug. "I love you son and your boyfriend too."
A few hours later, Daffy, Carrie, Bugs, Clarisse and the O' Hare's were gathered around the giant mahogany dining table eating a lavish meal that the cooks had prepared.
Daffy was able to take a shower and borrow some of Bugs' clothes, which were slightly larger on him but nevertheless comfortable.
As Daffy saw Carrie and Clarisse laughing and chatting about girl stuff, Bugs' parents sharing loving glances from their positions by the table, and Bugs' hand in his feeling warm and perfect and here, Daffy realized that life had a way of turning things around that was crazy and unexpected but so, so worth it.
He kissed Bugs' hand and returned the loving smile that the other man gave him. "I want you to be a part of my forever." The grey-haired man stated, nuzzling Daffy's nose with his.
Daffy beamed, feeling like this was all he ever wanted, smirking and giving Bugs a small peck on the lips, he said. "I just might like that."
A/N: Just wanted to thank everyone for the love and support for this fanfic. To be honest, I know this chapter's pacing was a little off but I assure you, I'm still a noob at things like pacing and word flow so bear with me lol.
This chapter doesn't really have a multi-song soundtrack because I just put my ipod on shuffle while I worked on this and there would be too many songs to list. Hope you enjoyed, see you next chapter.