Three days.

Three days had gone by and he hadn’t so much as heard from Danny.

And despite "doing the right thing" biting him in the ass, Elliot oddly enough did not regret it.

...For the most part.

He now had to resign himself to the idea of going back to InfoBYTE and begging for his old job back, or applying other places...

Or moving back home.

He shook the last one out of his mind. The last few days of hanging out with Winn had convinced him he wasn’t ready for that yet. Elliot was actually enjoying his life, his friendship, himself...Maybe giving it one more good try in the city would be worth it.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go?” Winn asked, kissing Elliot’s forehead, “Maybe going out would be good for you. I don’t want to push it, but you haven’t left the apartment since-”

Elliot waved her away, “It’s fine, Winnie. I’ll just be a buzzkill and you’re already late. I don’t have time to shower beforehand, just go.”

Winn tried a few more times, insisting that a party would be good for Elliot’s soul before he finally convinced her to leave.

He had never been a couch potato, but it was suiting him fairly well. Maybe saying goodbye to parties was what he needed to do.

Elliot was trying very hard to think of ways to not suck, this one made less sense, but in his defense he had also made it to a very crucial point in Carrie and Big’s storyline, he couldn't miss out on it now - it would be an absolute travesty.

He shooed Winn out of the apartment, closing the door behind her with a sigh of relief, and then he caught a whiff of his own smell.

Okay, shower first. Dramatic elevator kiss second. He decided.

Elliot shrugged off his pajamas, setting his phone on the bathroom counter as he fumbled in.

The counter vibrated.

Danny Boy: Hey, plz tell me you like thai food

Elliot tried to ignore the fact that his otherwise pale skin was now bright pink in the reflection of the bathroom mirror.

Elliot: Yeah? Why?

He waited for a bit longer than he should have before shrugging off the rest of his clothes and hopping in the shower.

That was probably sent to the wrong person,  He concluded after having stared at the word “read” for roughly ten minutes.

Someone who doesn’t suck.

Elliot reached for Winn’s shampoo, preferring the smell of coconuts and citrus, especially in comparison to nothing since he had apparently been too lazy to buy his own shampoo and the empty bottle had sat there for well over a month.

Jesus, Elliot sighed, I’m a fucking train wreck.

Elliot took his time, forcing himself not to think about Danny or Thai food or the mysterious stranger the message was clearly meant for. He hopped out the shower, casually tapping his phone.

Nothing.

Elliot sighed, of course not.

He wondered how long Winn would be at that party, mostly because of loneliness but also because he didn’t want to bother putting on pants and if he could spend the rest of the evening watching Sex and the City in his underwear he’d damn well do it.

Fuck it, Elliot thought, wrapping a towel around his waist as he made his way back to the room, I’ll just opt for baggy pajama pants as it is truly the best of both worlds.

“Well hey there, sailor.” A voice quipped from his bedroom window.

Elliot screamed, fumbling and tripping forward as he did such. He clawed at the edge of his bed while Danny laughed hysterically.

Elliot grabbed a sock from his bedroom floor, throwing it rather pathetically in Danny’s direction, “Don’t do  that!”

Danny tried to stop laughing, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye, “I told you I was coming over!’

“The hell you did!” Elliot seethed, still hanging on to the corner of his bed.

Danny pulled his phone out of his pocket, a loud snort transforming into laughter that bordered maniacal, “It didn’t send!”

Don't be so cute about this, jackass...Elliot pouted, “I’m glad I can be entertaining.”

Danny looked over and then turned to face the alleyway, “Yeah, well put some pants on. I brought food.”

Elliot could feel his entire body go red, “Right. Yeah. Okay.”

He reached over to his dresser, awkwardly grabbing out a pair of pajama pants as he intended before but grabbing a shirt as well because...well he wasn’t entirely sure why. This feeling of self consciousness was new for him.

Danny climbed through the window, plopping onto the foot of Elliot’s bed and tossing several bags onto it, one of them bright red and not brown.

Elliot tried not to be weird about Danny being there, sitting on his bed, so he scrambled to think of something to help...ground him.

“What’s in that bag?” He asked, gesturing to the one that was clearly not like the others.

Smooth, Elliot.  He thought, struggling to hear his own inner monologues against the rather loud, non-rhythmic beating of his heart.

“This  is actually for you,” Danny said cheerily as he grabbed the bag, throwing it at Elliot, “Your leverage is gone, so you can’t refuse me.”

He reached in, pulling out the pastel hot dog shirt as he struggled not to smile, “It’s hypothetically  gone.”

Danny rolled his eyes, “Face it, big guy. You did the right thing and now it’s gonna haunt you. Deal with it.”

If the consequences entail having you here, I think I’ll be alright, Elliot thought before internally kicking himself for sounding so gross and cheesy.

Elliot nodded towards the living room, “I guess the consequences could be worse.”

Danny followed him out, setting the food on the coffee table before sprawling onto the living room floor, “Much worse. I could have turned you in to the grand council of people who piss off superheroes.”

“That’s not a thing.” Elliot said, narrowing his eyes, “And please, make yourself comfortable.”

“You don’t know that!...but you’re right.” Danny sat up, grinning, “Take whatever you want, man. I sorta ordered a little bit of everything since I didn’t know what you wanted.”

“You know, asking  would have been a reasonable alternative.” Elliot said, smiling despite himself.

Danny’s eyebrow quirked, but he kept his gaze on the noodles he was fishing out of the bag, “Kinda glad I didn’t. I would have missed quite the spectacle.”

Elliot flushed, “I’ve seen your secret identity and you’ve seen me naked. I’d say we’re even.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Dan smirked before shoving an unholy amount of noodles into his mouth, “Wub are ooo mmmfin?” he managed to ask through his pad thai.

“Sex and the City….” Elliot muttered almost inaudibly, “But we can watch whatever you want. You brought food, after all.”

Dan shrugged, “Don’t act all embarrassed, it’s not that  bad of a show.”

“It’s an awful show.”

“So you’re watching it ironically?”

“...Not necessarily.”

“We can still watch it,” Dan shrugged, “Never got the appeal of Big though. Aiden was the real M.V.P.”

Elliot laughed, “Agreed! Good to see your taste in men isn’t entirely  awful.”

The two of them fell silent. They would blame the food, but as they both blushed furiously they knew it was the unspoken subtext behind Elliot’s comment.

Elliot cleared his throat, scrambling for the smoothest save he could muster, “So where have you been the last few days?”

Dan put down an empty box only to replace it with another full one, “Well, full-time bartending and part-time superhero-ing can get a little time consuming.”

“I can imagine.” Elliot smiled, “Meanwhile, I’ve literally done...nothing.”

Dan struggled against a fit of laughter.

“What?” Elliot asked, fighting the stupid feeling of self consciousness again.

“I wouldn't say nothing. That’s actually why I stopped by.” Dan said, readjusting himself, “I kept going to text you, but anytime I pulled it up it showed that you were typing. At first I thought your phone was busted, but then I wondered if you were typing a novel.”

Dan paused, reaching over to grab a pillow from the couch and setting it underneath him, “Then it occurred to me that we’re both clearly the same kind of stupid and someone would need to concede this round of chicken eventually.”

Shit, Elliot thought as he felt himself go bright red, “I may have just gotten busy, you know.”

“I can see that.” Dan said as he smugly gestured at Elliot’s pajamas.

Elliot was so unaccustomed to this. The self-consciousness, the blushing, the awkward silences.

He didn’t know what to make of this.

Tossing his new and empty box into a bag, Dan stood, stretching briefly before hopping over to the couch, sitting down a comfortable distance away from Elliot, “So. I got Val to cover my shift tomorrow, what say ye to that interview?”

A myriad of thoughts fought their way through Elliot’s mind.

Dan was just a few feet away from him, if that.

He was being nice.

A weird tan line was just barely visible, peeking out of his grey gym shorts.

This clearly couldn’t be a date, because Danny is wearing gym shorts.

But Elliot was in pajamas.

And he wanted this to be a date.

He wanted this to be a date?

He wanted this to be a date.

“Sure,” Elliot squeaked, surprising himself with cognitive functions, “That would be great.”

“Good.” Danny agreed, snatching the blanket away from Elliot and nestling into the couch, “You clearly need some hobbies, what is this, season seven?”

“Did you come here just to judge my life choices?” Elliot pouted.

“Hey, I also brought you food and an awesome shirt.” Danny offered proudly, “Guilty pleasure tv, seeing you naked, and weird not-quite-flirting just happened to coincide with my plans of food and judging you.”

At that point, Elliot was almost certain this was a very bizarre fever dream, and wordlessly attempted to focus on the screen.

TV, at least, would make sense right now.

They had several, relatively friendly, arguments as the night wore on before Elliot startled to a sudden weight on his shoulder.

He leaned, looking over cautiously at the head of Danny Chae that now rested against him.

“Uh...Danny boy?” He asked, trying to ignore how flustered he felt.

“Shhh. Five more minutes, mom.” Danny mumbled, snuggling closer.

Oh dear god, Elliot thought as he exhaled sharply,  This is it. This is how I die.

While he knew deep down inside that he wouldn’t actually die from this, probably, Elliot struggled trying to remember the last time he felt...whatever this was.

He’d had crushes before, but in his teens. When he was young and unassuming. Before the world informed him that people only came together to benefit one another. You get what you get from other people and you move on. That’s what these things were, that’s how they’d always been in Elliot’s experience.

But despite having something he kinda  wanted from Daniel Chae, the younger man had become somewhat enigmatic in the sense that Elliot just wanted to be around him. More than he wanted that interview, at least.

“I disgust myself.” He muttered to a sleeping Danny, “Although I suppose I can comfort my warring emotions by pointing out we have known each other longer than most Disney couples.”

Danny snored into Elliot’s shoulder.

“Much longer, even I  don’t move that fast.” He corrected himself embarrassingly to no one, “I think I’m just...you frustrate  me... And I don’t mean sexually.”

There was a pause.

“Okay, I don’t just  mean sexually.” Elliot groaned, “I don’t...I haven’t liked someone in a long time. Not in such a bizarrely pure way. Okay, not like...super pure, but you know what I mean.”

Elliot was frustrated, “And now I’m rambling to you while you’re asleep because I’m stupid and insecure and this is all very new for me.”

Elliot slowly removed Danny’s glasses, selfishly opting to let him sleep while the tv played on.

“I guess I just didn’t expect I’d like you so much, Danny boy.” He said quietly, attempting to gently adjust himself.

“Right back at ‘ya, sailor.” Danny said quietly, “Now shut up, I’m trying to sleep.”

I take that back, Elliot thought with a jolt, this is actually going to kill me.