Everywhere Johnny went it seemed Danny was there - the laundrette, the cafe, the pub and now the market. He'd only been out walking Lady Di for a few moments when he'd bumped into him. Did Danny just constantly hang around the square deliberately waiting to bump into him? Didn't he have a job? And come to think of a girlfriend too?
"Hey gorgeous." Danny grinned.
Johnny flushed red and kept his eyes on the ground. "Please don't call me that." he muttered, wrapping his hand tightly around Lady Di's leash.
"Actually I was talking to the dog." Danny laughed. "Not that you're not gorgeous too." he said stroking a finger down Johnny's cheek before sauntering off confidently.
Johnny watched him go, a knot of anxiety tightening in his stomach - he was attracted to Danny for sure but was scared to act on it, worried that Danny was just playing with him and that if he made a move it would all turn out to be some joke he and Lucy had cooked up.
"Caught you." Nancy said in Johnny's ear causing him to jump. Johnny span around and looked at his sister questionably. "Caught you with your fancy man." Nancy teased.
"He's not my fancy man." Johnny replied heading off with Lady Di.
Nancy followed, skipping beside him. "Yeah but you do fancy him don'tcha?" she said. "Don't try and deny it, I've seen you two having eye sex across the pub - practically indecent."
Johnny flushed red. "Shut up." he said elbowing her in the side.
"Come on you can tell me." Nancy whined. "You like him don't you?"
"Nancy just drop it." Johnny snapped. "It doesn't matter if I like him or not, Mum might have finally accepted that I'm gay but she's not exactly going to be happy about me hooking up with an older guy is she?"
"So you do like him!" Nancy squealed with excitement. "Well first we've got to get Lucy out of the picture, and then -"
"No no stop with the schemes, it's not going to happen so just drop it." Johnny said pushing the dog leash into Nancy's hand and then heading back to the pub.
Nancy watched him go and felt a little bad for pushing him but she was desperate to see him happy and the only time she saw him smile these days was that shy smile she saw when he laid eyes on Danny.
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Working behind the bar later that night Nancy watched as Danny and Johnny eyed each other from across the room, the sexual tension between them was ridiculous. "Why don't you just go over there and talk to him?" she whispered in her brother's ear. "He comes in here every night clearly just to see you."
Johnny gritted his teeth together. "Stay out of it Nancy." he whispered furiously.
"Come on what's the harm? Mum's out with Dad tonight so she'll never know." Nancy pressed.
"Nancy!" Johnny hissed.
Nancy rolled her eyes. "Fine fine." she sighed. "Continue doing things your way ... the slow way." she said heading out from behind the bar to collect the empty glasses.
Nancy looked over to make sure Johnny was busy serving customers and quickly slipped over to Danny's table and sat down. "So are you actually going to ask my brother out or not?" she asked crossing her arms and staring at him hard.
Danny almost choked on his pint. "Wow you're up front aren't you?" he grinned. "Pity your brother isn't the same." he added.
"So?" Nancy asked still waiting for an answer but Danny didn't give one. Nancy just rose an eyebrow. "I don't get it, if you're with Lucy then have you spent every night in here eyeing up Johnny?" she asked.
"Lucy and I are over." Danny told her. "I broke it off with her last week."
Nancy glanced over at Johnny. "For him?" she asked.
Danny just smiled slightly. "Yeah well doesn't matter now does it, he's made it clear he's not interested."
"Oh trust me, he's interested." Nancy said slipping out of her seat and sauntering back behind the bar. "You just need to be a bit braver."
Danny downed the rest of his pint, picked up his jacket and swiftly left the pub. Nancy watched him go and then glanced over Johnny who looked disappointed. "Where's he going in such a hurry?" he asked his sister.
Nancy just shrugged, wondering the same thing.
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Johnny was just locking the pub up for the night when there was a knock at the door. "We're closed!" he shouted assuming it was just one of the locals trying to get another pint in before the end of the night.
"Open up Johnny, it's me."
Johnny's heart skipped a beat at the sound of Danny's voice; he glanced around the pub but it was empty - his mum and dad weren't back yet and Nancy had snuck off to see Wayne at the B&B. Johnny swallowed hard and his hands shook as he reached up for the top bolt. Johnny opened the door a crack and peered out. "Danny what are you doing here?" he asked shivering slightly as a cold breeze swept in.
Danny slipped into his pub, wrapped his arms around Johnny and kissed him. Johnny was too stunned to kiss him back, he couldn't move at all but this didn't deter Danny.
Eventually Johnny's brain caught up with him and he knew he had a choice - push Danny away out of fear or kiss him back and start living his life. Johnny thought about it for a fraction of a second before he wrapped his arms around Danny's neck and pulled him further into the pub, his lips crushing desperately against his.
"What brought this on?" Johnny asked as the kiss broke.
Danny smiled. "Well Nancy told me to be braver." he replied.
Johnny laughed. "I shouldn't have trusted her to keep out of this." he replied.
"Do you wish she had?" Danny asked.
Johnny coloured deeply. "No I guess not." he replied; he turned and locked the door of the pub just in case any of the locals came bursting in. Johnny paused, his hand resting on the bolt before he turned and fixed Danny with a confident smile. "How about we take these," he said heading around the bar and grabbing a couple of bottles of beer from the shelf, "and head upstairs?" he said, his whole body prickling with excitement.
Danny's eyebrows rose. "What's brought this on?" he asked, quoting Johnny's previous question.
Johnny smiled. "Well maybe it's time I was a bit braver too." he replied. "Come on." he said heading out the back of the bar and up the stairs. He didn't even have to look to see if Danny had followed - he knew he would.
