AN: This would have been a Milliways scene. If I had someone to play Danny. Instead I wrote the scene for myself.
Danny Reyes belongs to Judas Kiss and Carlos Pedraza. The film Ivo mentions here is actually from that movie; Danny tells the panel that his next film will be one where gay people dominate the society.
Love in the Office
It's Friday morning and Danny is sitting in Ivo's office thumbing through an Alaskan tour guide. He doesn't have classes on Fridays and he's waiting for Ivo to finish his class notes so he can have the computer. It's 1985 and office computers aren't entirely a new thing for scientists. Most research departments have them. Acadia University actually has several available for its research faculty. But Ivo has his very own. He simply has too much data to run and it would be inconsiderate of others. Therefore he purchased one from his own income. Which makes him different.
As if he needed something else to accentuate his different-ness.
Computers in the 80s are nothing like they are today but they are nonetheless marvelous. Apple is about to arrive on the scene in the States but Ivo would have opted for an IBM anyway. IBMs are arcane, as suits a scientist and his cameraman boyfriend. Danny likes to tinker with technology. He'll tell you there is no point if you can't take time figuring out what it can do, but just between us, he has a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He never had the chance to have it handed to him, he stole everything he ever owned. Up until he got Ivo. He doesn't have to steal anymore but it is ingrained in his personality. And if you said "Apple" to him, he'd sneer and say it was for simpletons. But that's just loyalty to that dinosaur of his.
Ivo loves having Danny in his office. He still can't get enough of him. Even if Danny were physically joined to him at the hip, it would never be enough. They could never be close enough. Ivo threads the continuous paper onto the tractor feed of his dot matrix printer and types in the command and the thing whirs and grinds and then loudly taps out the essay questions for today's exam. He watches it start and then turns to the much more enjoyable task of watching Danny read.
How did anyone so beautiful and near-perfect fall into his lap?
He says, "If you see something that catches your interest, let me know. We have the first two weeks to explore."
Their plans are just taking shape. Ivo's landed a coveted lecture spot on a cruise ship. Imagine getting paid to vacation! He can hardly wait.
Danny grunts. He's looking at photos of wolves in the Denali National Park and thinking he wants to film them. It was never his intention to be a National Geographic film maker but wolves fascinate him. He tells Ivo he was one in an earlier life (they disagree on such things as reincarnation but Ivo fervently believes that Danny is part-wolf).
Ivo sees that Danny is focused on other things and turns back to watch the printer spit out the sheet, still attached to its mates, now covered with neat lines of print. He carefully tears it from the rest and removes the sides. The office will duplicate it for him on the mimeograph machine. It's cheaper.
He glances one more time at Danny and returns to his desk to set things up for him. It's those little acts of consideration that demonstrate love. Danny could do it himself but Ivo would prefer he spend his time writing his new script. It's to take place in a futuristic society in which heterosexuals are the minority. Knowing Danny, it is bound to create tsunamis in the world of independent film. Ivo smiles, perhaps at that thought or just Danny in general, collects his books and case and walks to where Danny is seated. He bends down to kiss his rumpled black hair. Danny doesn't bother to comb it anymore. He didn't do it for eighteen years. He only did it to get Ivo. And he has him now. He can relax.
"Bye," says Ivo softly, wishing he could stay. And then he calls back as he walks away, "Be good."
Danny casts a inscrutable look at the retreating figure and stands to resituate himself on the other side of the desk in Ivo's chair. Half the joy of having a boyfriend is that feeling of possession. He loves sitting in Ivo's chair, surrounded by Ivo's things. He scoots forward and then freezes when he reads the note Ivo has left for him on the open document.
"If you knew how much I love you, you would run away."
He contemplates that for a while before he can even think about his script.