Elliot had practically ran home, setting straight to work on the video.
He almost didn’t want to record any spliced scenes for himself, but he needed to widdle in an introduction somewhere.
It was hard to talk about Danny objectively, but he managed.
For the most part.
Any idiot with eyes could probably see how smitten he was, Not that Elliot cared.
Elliot exchanged his suit for Winn’s pair of llama shorts, not entirely too concerned with that he was wearing but concerned enough he knew he wanted out of the suit. Finally comfortable, he made his nest in his bed, plugged in his laptop, and set to work.
He’d never admit it, for personal reasons, but Elliot actually really enjoyed editing. Maybe it was just a bit of his “bad person” bit sneaking through, but there was nothing quite like manipulating something to make it be whatever you wanted it to be.
Elliot had became so absorbed in what he was doing that he didn’t notice the hours fly by until his phone alarm went off.
Wait, it’s 9pm already? Elliot thought as he habitually leaned over to grab his mediation from the nightstand. He checked his phone, his heart sinking as he saw the empty notifications.
He wasn’t sure if he should be worried that he’d been stood up or if something bad had happened.
I suddenly understand why all the love interests seem cranky, He thought, hoping that cracking a joke would alleviate the tension that had taken over his body.
Winn knocked gently on the door, “Hey, you okay in there?”
Elliot wanted very much to say no.
“Ellie?” the door slowly creaked open as Winn poked her head in, her eyes falling to the llama pants, “...Am I ever getting those back?”
Elliot crossed his arms, “They’re really comfy, Winn.”
“Well then buy your own fucking pair,” She laughed as she stepped into the room, dodging the clothes crumpled up by the doorway, “How was your interview?”
“UH…” Elliot said, setting his laptop behind him and pulling his blanket up around him, “It..uh..sure was an interview…”
Elliot pulled his knees to his chest, the blanket covering his mouth as he did, and patted the spot next to him.
Winn’s eyes grew excited, “You look awfully embarrassed for someone who’s just landed an exclusive interview, do tell.”
“Winn,” Elliot said pathetically as he buried his face into the pile of blanket between his head and knees, “I think I really like him.”
She snorted back an ungraceful laugh as she plopped next to him on the bed, “Really? I couldn’t tell!”
Elliot peeked up from his cocoon, “Don’t patronize me, Winnifred.”
“I’m just saying,” She shot her hands up defensively, “I did not get that vibe at all. Such shock. Much surprise. Wow.”
“Ha.” Elliot said dryly, “This is very foreign territory, my friend.”
“Yeah. I’m well aware, man. So I’m guessing the interview went alright?”
“We told each other that we liked each other, Winona. Like we’re...children or something.” He grinned into his blanket, “This is maddening, I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”
“Oh wow.” She said, blinking, “So, like…. are you going to ask him to prom?”
Elliot lightly punched her arm as she burst into a fit of laughter, “You’re hilarious..”
“And you’re disgustingly infatuated.” She said with a roll of her eyes, “So what else? Did you hold his hand?”
Elliot waited in amusement while Winona got the laughter out of her system before clearing his throat, “I mean...if you must know, I kissed him.”
“Awwwwwww, my little baby. All grown up and kissing boys.” She said with mock pride, “You’re so embarrassed! It’s so cute. I’m like, dying from this.”
So am I, Elliot thought, a delirious smile spreading across his face. He flopped backwards, looking up at his friend, “Winn, I think I’m losing my mind.”
“One cannot lose that which they have never had,” Winn said wisely, watching as Elliot went to frown but didn’t seem able to, “So is that it?”
“I don’t think you understand what you’re saying, Winnifred. Using the word “it” implies that I didn’t just experience the most life changing, earth shattering, mind altering kiss in the universe. That had to be the most magically sexy thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Winn snorted, her face twisted with mock disgust, “Holy shit, that’s disgusting.”
Elliot sighed in response.
“I’ve heard you say a lot of gross shit, but this takes the cake.” She continued, “I will never understand romantics, but I’m so happy I’m not one right now.”
“Why?”
“Because you sound like a fucking idiot.” Winn said, her smile betraying her feigned disgust.
“I asked him on a real date. Tonight.” He said quietly, closing his eyes as Winn brushed his hair away from his forehead. Sometimes it was odd just how much she felt like an older sister.
“And you’re not on this date because….?” Winn preened, “Did something-”
Her attention was cut off, “Oh, hey Danny.”
“That’s not funny.” Elliot groaned, sitting up to see Danny sitting on the fire escape. All of his blood rushed to his head, but he steeled himself, “I’m not screaming.”
“Externally.” Winn said, trying to keep her composure but failing as she and Danny burst into laughter, “Well, I have some uh, work emails to attend to, so I’m gonna leave you two love birds at it.”
Elliot’s face was pure fire, “Don’t do it.”
Danny shot a confused look at both of them.
“I’m a cool mom,” Winn said dramatically, “You kids let me know if you need anything!”
“Stop.” Elliot muttered helplessly.
“Snacks, condoms, you name it.” Winn winked, “Use protection!”
Winn practically skipped out of the room.
“She wasn’t even quoting that correctly.” Danny said in amusement.
Elliot sighed, “We’ll be lucky if she doesn’t bust out her pink track suit. She...really loves that bit.”
Danny snorted, leaning on the window sill, “So…”
“So?” Elliot asked, pulling his blanket closer self-consciously.
“You have a crush on me?” Danny said, smiling in a way that made Elliot forget what year it was, “That’s embarrassing.”
“I seem to recall you willingly making out with me, so…” Elliot shrugged, “Right back at you.”
“You got me there.” Danny awkwardly made finger guns before leaning farther into the window sill.
“Are you okay? I had lost track of time with editing and then I looked up and it was late and I wasn’t…” Elliot sighed, shaking his head, “It’s going to take some getting used to. I know you’ve got shit to do, but the mind goes to some preeeetty dark places.”
“Yeah,” Danny said softly, “I had to get my mom to help with the whole healing-bit thing. Frog and Toad are really upping their game, they cracked a rib, man.”
“Jesus, Danny! Shouldn’t you get to a hospital or something?! What are you doing here?”
Danny held up his hand, pulling down his index finger as he spoke, “One, Healing magic. Remember?”
Danny pulled down another finger, “Two, I wanted to help edit this video.”
Elliot tried not to pay too much mind to how much Danny was leaning into the window frame as he continued, “Three, I wanted to bring you churros so we could at least get a pseudo date, but I lost them.”
“Four,” He said, something in his voice growing frustrated, “I thought we could salvage a least a little bit of this night and I wanted you to know I was okay and-”
Danny stopped, his shoulders sagging as he frowned, “Elliot.”
Elliot jolted, “Y-Yeah?”
“Were you planning to just let me ramble here in the window all night or are you going to kiss me?”
Elliot watched Danny grin at the shocked inhale of breath he made, the noise more embarrassing than he thought he could live with, “I didn’t...I was…” Elliot flustered as Danny flopped onto the foot of his bed, “You had five points, I was letting you get through them first.”
Danny maneuvered awkwardly until he was directly in front of Elliot, “So you were planning to?”
“Well, yeah.” Elliot said, almost thrilled by how shy he felt. It wasn’t a familiar sensation for him, “I thought I’d let you work through your list first, though.”
Leaning closer and placing a hand at the nape of Elliot’s neck, Danny laughed, “Dumbass.”
Danny leaned in, his kiss somehow containing the same intensity as the one back in the abandoned office, as though no time had passed. Elliot scrambled for any coherent thought he could muster, completely surrendering himself to whatever the hell was happening. He reached up, grabbing at the collar of Danny’s jacket, pulling him closer, eliciting a noise of surprise from Danny.
Do I pull him into my lap? Would that be weird? What if it’s too forward?
Elliot struggled to think against the roaring of blood in his ears and the weightlessness he felt as Danny’s weight shifted, his other hand suddenly on his chest at the same moment Elliot had finally worked himself up to put his hands on Danny’s waist.
Danny pushed him backwards, the surprise very evident on Elliot’s face, causing Danny to burst into laughter before he went back in, teeth clattering in a desperate attempt to resume what they were doing. Danny’s free hand slowly trailed his waist while the other stayed woven into his hair, Elliot deciding that the jacket was probably the safest and least presumptuous place to keep his hands.
They continued like that for a moment before Danny suddenly pulled away, taking a moment to appreciate the flush of pink across Elliot’s cheeks and the bright red swell to his now kiss-swollen lips.
“We’re worse than teenagers.” He said quietly, his voice amused as he placed one last quick kiss to Elliot’s lips before moving to the foot of the bed and grabbing the laptop, “So what have you got so far?”
Elliot blinked back his shock, “Danny boy, you’re going to have to give me a second to...adjust.”
Danny looked back smugly, “That good, huh?”
“If this is some sort of revenge, it’s a fantastically horrible idea.” Elliot said, remembering that he had made the exact same comment to Danny once before, “I’d ask what I did to deserve that, but quite frankly that’s a list too long to bear listening to.”
“You didn’t do anything, dumbass.” Danny laughed, “But you’re going to need to actually do something with this video if you want to get a job any time soon.”
Elliot sat up with a groan, “That’s fair.”
“Plus,” Danny added with a twinkle of amusement, “You can’t really be my sugar daddy without any money.”
Elliot coughed, grabbing at his chest, “That’s...don’t make jokes like that.”
Elliot reached over and grabbed the laptop from Danny’s hands, trying to ignore the grin plastered on his face.
“I feel like I’ve learned something very important, I just can’t quite put my finger on what it is.” Danny mused.
“Just…” Elliot huffed, “Let’s just fix this video and post it okay?”
Surprising the both of them, they managed to fix the video without any arguments or creative differences getting in the way. It wasn’t the biggest surprise though, as Danny was just happy to help and Elliot was finding that he was just happy to exist in the same space as Danny. At this point, he wasn’t sure if this would actually work any wonders on his job opportunities.
Danny clicked on the mouse pad, finalizing the video’s grand entrance into the world wide web.
“Well. I guess that’s that.” Elliot said blankly, staring at the screen.
“Yep.” Danny said, equally blank, “It’s probably a little too late now, but you’re...sure about this, right?”
“Me?” Elliot asked, “This just gets me money, why wouldn’t I be?”
“You didn’t read a lot of comic books, did you?” Danny asked, his smile slightly off, “You...you’re at risk too, you know.”
“What? Last I checked there’s not a lot of franchises that take out their frustrations on the press. I can only think of one comic book reporter, and he was a dick.”
“There’s more than one, but that’s not what I meant. Not...just that.” Danny frowned.
Oh.
“You’re not just a reporter.” Danny said quietly, “You’re going to be all...out in the open and people will know that you know me. Or Merlin. Whatever.”
Elliot reached over and stroked his cheek, “I’m a tough cookie, Danny boy. I can handle myself.”
“I’m just...nervous...I think.” Danny said with a sigh, “I’m...I’ve never…”
Elliot brushed the hair from his face, “It’s alright.”
“No,” Danny corrected, “I mean. I’m sure it is. Maybe. I’m just...you know I’ve never done the whole...dating thing, right?”
Every mean joke Elliot had made about Daniel Chae before he had gotten to know him flashed through his mind.
Oh.
“So I’m going into this blind. With added pressure.” Danny added, his breath shaky, “So if you don’t want to, I totally get it. There’s no shame in backing out now, I just...get attached easily so this is probably the last stop before the emotional attachment train can’t bounce back from a crash.”
“Has anyone ever accused you of being neurotic before?” Elliot asked with a grin, taking Danny by surprise with a chaste kiss, “Because if they haven’t I’m in actual shock.”
Danny flushed, “You really like me, don’t you?”
“Congratulations, You’ve officially made the list.” Elliot beamed, “There are now officially two people in the world I don’t hate.”
“Wow,” Danny said dryly, “What an honor.”
They laughed, Elliot leaning over to kiss Danny again, this time a little less gentle than before.
Danny sighed dramatically, “Not to kill the mood, but I have work in the morning.”
Elliot frowned.
“Hey, you might have work in the morning too.” Danny grinned, “Fingers crossed. I was serious about that sugar daddy thing.”
“And I was serious about not making that joke.” Elliot quipped, “Exposing weaknesses is more of a ...third date thing.”
“I love how many things you’ve assigned to each date.” Danny laughed, reluctantly climbing out of the window and onto the fire escape, “I’m neurotic he says.”
Elliot leaned out of the window sill, “Yeah, well...I don’t have a cute retort for that.”
“Truth hurts, sailor. The truth hurts.” Danny said, leaning into one final kiss, “I’ll text you if no one tries to blow up the city tomorrow. I owe you a date.”
Elliot’s phone went off behind them, once, twice, and then frantically.
That was quick.
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