Summary: Danny's still feeling some of the effects from the blood blossoms, but staying in bed isn't an option.
Characters: Dash x Danny x Kwan
Afterward 12
"You can't sleep all day," Kwan said, giving him a shake.
Danny grumbled into the pillow. He still felt a little drained from last night, and his shoulder ached dully. During the night, he had to be careful not to accidentally roll onto that shoulder or the dull ache turned into a persistent throb. If the bullet were normal, his wound would have healed completely by now. Because of the blood blossom lacing the bullet, his healing was much slower, even after Korbin gave him the antidote.
Something brushed up the arch of his foot. Danny jerked up, shoving himself to the wall at the head of the bed. Dash stood at the other end, half bent over with his hand still outstretched. A smirk curled onto his face, and Danny scowled at him. Grabbing a pillow, he flung it at Dash, who ducked out of the way as he laughed.
"You should probably get up before Kwan gets mad." Dash nodded toward Kwan who folded his arms with a displeased frown.
"It won't look good if our guests arrive and you're still asleep in bed."
Danny held back a sigh at Kwan's stern stare. "Sorry." He sighed as he climbed out of bed. "I really didn't expect that blood blossom to affect me so much."
Kwan frowned in concern. "How is your shoulder?"
"Sore." Danny rubbed at the wounded shoulder. "But once my healing kicks back in, it'll be like I never got shot."
"That had to be the most scared I've ever been in my life," Dash admitted. Though he tried to shrug it off, he couldn't completely hide his worry. "Next to the whole Kwan dashing out of the school because you disappeared thing."
"I," Danny pointed at him, "had no control over that. And as for the blood blossoms, I really had no idea any hunters even knew about that, let alone figured out how to utilize it for fighting ghosts. I swear I will be a lot more careful about it in the future."
"We know you're not completely reckless, but-" Kwan shook his head. "I guess I don't need to keep repeating that we worry about you."
"I'll try to be better about it. I don't mean to make you worry." Danny rubbed at the back of his neck as he lowered his gaze. He hated to make the people he cared about worry, but he also couldn't sit back when people needed his help. "We should probably get started on preparing brunch." He looked down at himself. "And I think I'll shower before that."
"We'll get started on the food." Kwan dropped his hands on Dash's shoulders and ushered him out of the door.
Danny headed for the bathroom. Once inside, he pulled off his shirt then carefully peeled away the bandage. The gunshot wound didn't look as gruesome as last night. It had healed up pretty well, but not nearly as well as when his healing worked properly. He frowned as he ran his fingers over the injury, yet another scar. Blood blossoms. He never imagined he would run into that deadly plant again. How did this hunter know about it? Maybe Amari could get some answers out of the hunter.
He hopped into the shower. The warm water felt nice, and he may have stood under the spray for a minute or two just soaking in that feeling. He washed up in hurry then got dressed before he made his boyfriends angry. He wasn't trying to get out of helping out, but sometimes it was hard to want to get out of the shower. After dressing, he joined Dash and Kwan in the kitchen to work on brunch.
Someone knocked on the door as they were setting up the table for their gathering. Kwan jogged over to the door, leaving Dash and Danny to finish with the table. Danny glanced over as Kwan opened the door then smiled when he heard Hayley greet him. As soon as the table was ready, Danny and Dash walked over to join the others at the door.
"Come in," Kwan said, stepping aside so Hayley and Celeste could enter the apartment.
"We brought a little cake." Celeste held out the white box. "Since someone," she rolled her eyes to Hayley, "insisted we should bring something. And it's too early in the day for wine."
Danny chuckled as he took the box. "Thanks. Can we get you anything to drink?"
"Water is fine." Celeste hung up her coat then turned to help Hayley out of hers.
"Water. Do you need help with anything?"
"No, I think we have everything-" Dash answered until a knock interrupted him. He opened the door again as Hayley and Celeste stepped farther into the apartment so they weren't blocking the entrance.
"Sorry we're late!" Mirabelle said in a rush before Dash could even say hello.
Danny tried and failed to hold back a smile as he took the cake out of the box and set it on a serving plate. "You're not late at all."
"See?" Will chuckled, kissing Mirabelle on her temple. "I told you we'd be fine. Besides, I'm sure they don't mind if we come a little late. Ah!" He looked up to realize there were other people in the apartment. "I'm Will." He held out a hand. "And this is my wife Mirabelle and our son Noah."
"Oh! He's so cute!" Hayley squealed then flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry. I'm Hayley." She shook Will's hand.
"Celeste." After shaking his hand, Celeste wrapped a hand around Hayley's waist.
"You're welcome to hold him. He finally decided to stop being fussy." Mirabelle stared down at her son with a mock stern expression, but when Noah made a giggling noise and clapped his hands, she broke back into a fond smile.
"Maybe we should move this to the table," Kwan suggested. "And do you have drink preferences?"
Dash closed the door as everyone moved toward the table. Danny and Kwan took care of drinks and carrying over the plates of food. Danny couldn't deny a part of him was nervous about this whole brunch gathering, but so far it seemed like everyone was getting along.
"So how do you know the guys?" Hayley asked as they all settled down to eat brunch.
Will shot a glance to Danny, who nodded. "Danny and I dated for a while in college, also rival swimmers. Now we coach the swim teams at the schools we teach at."
"How do you two know them?" Mirabelle returned the question.
"I dated Danny for a while," Hayley said.
"And I had a blind date with Dash."
"Past tense?" Mirabelle glanced toward Danny.
"It was all mutual. No dramatic breakups or anything. And we decided to stay friends."
"And it turned out for the best," Hayley added, sharing a fond look and smile with Celeste. "Since without us meeting them, we wouldn't have met and fallen in love."
"Aw! Congrats!" Mirabelle looked like she was ready to jump up and give the two women a crushing hug if she wasn't currently holding Noah.
"That's a pretty amazing 'how did you meet' story." Will scooped some of the salad onto his plate. His attention turned to their three hosts. "So it felt like you had something important to say when you invited us to this brunch?"
Danny took a quick sip of his water. "Well," he set his glass down, "we thought we'd invite you all over to tell you-" He glanced to his boyfriends. A wave of nervousness suddenly washed over him, as silly as that seemed to him.
"We're dating," Dash said bluntly. "All three of us. One couple."
Hayley grinned. "I thought there was something there." She nudged Danny's arm with her elbow. "I'm really happy for the three of you."
"So of the people here, only Mirabelle and I haven't dated Danny." Celeste laughed when Danny's face burned with a blush.
"Does make you curious about how good a kisser he is, doesn't it?" Mirabelle's voice was light and teasing.
"He's good, but I definitely prefer your kisses more." Will leaned over to share a brief kiss with Mirabelle.
"Am I a good kisser?" Danny turned to his boyfriends curiously.
Dash almost choked as he sipped from water, his cheeks growing red. The question clearly caught him by surprised.
Kwan reached over to pat his back as Dash coughed. "I certainly enjoy your kisses."
"Ugh, they're cute," Celeste said, pretending to be disgusted by them. "But I'm happy for all of you. I guess you really did have some things you needed to figure out."
"Yeah." Dash nodded. "But once I stopped being stupid, everything worked out."
"I vote we do this again some time," Will suggested.
Everyone agreed it was a good idea, and Danny relaxed, happy that everyone was getting along.
YumiStar: Who would have thought those would come back to haunt him?
Casper97: Good thing there's someone who knows a little about blood blossoms! XD
Kimera20: Just a bit sore. XD To be fair, I think he thought blood blossoms would never be an issue. Guess he thought wrong. XD
xXRainbowCleoXx: Yay! Haha, for now at least. XD Who knows what other dangers still lurk out there?
vampygurl402: Thanks! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
