“It’s locked,” Etienne objected weakly, as he felt himself stroked through his jeans; he worried that he might actually come in his jeans for the first time since he was fifteen.

Mischievous green eyes looked up at him.

“I can pick locks...one of my many talents.”

Within seconds, they were inside the dark shed. The only light was that which came in through the cracks in the wood and underneath the doors, and a solitary window up by the roof, some twenty feet from the ground on the other side of the fourteen by twenty foot building. Once inside, Etienne found himself spun around to face the closed door. He put his hands out to catch himself, almost losing his balance in the dark.

“Did you like having Turner kiss you? Having his chubby hands on you, Eti? He’s been looking at you for weeks, wanting to kiss you, asking how it feels to have your long legs wrapped around me...did you know that?” Danny’s deep voice sounded different in the dark room...older...jaded.

Etienne hadn’t noticed Turner. He wasn’t sure how to answer. The most intriguing thing to him was the idea of Danny being asked about their lovemaking. That it was Turner was irrelevant.

“I didn’t notice any feeling other than boredom when he kissed me, and his hands were annoying. Now you answer, how does it feel when you have my legs wrapped around you?” His voice was hoarse. The shed was dusty, and he was perhaps slightly nervous...but in a good way.

Danny’s laugh was low and throaty. “It feels hot, like I can wrap myself up in you twice over, with your beautiful thighs and calves wrapped around me, and my hands on your fantastic ass, or lining my legs up against yours, front to back, and feeling the smooth line of your thighs against mine as I pound into you, which is what I’m going to do right now. Take your shirt off,” Danny ordered.

Etienne shivered as he felt his jeans lowered and his lower half exposed. He shrugged out of his shirt as lube slick fingers probed his anus. Danny kneed his legs apart slightly to put him at the right angle and he leaned his head against his arms, resting them on the door as Danny put on a condom.

“Eti, do you want this slow and sweet, or hard and fast?” the deep voice asked teasingly at his ear, as Etienne felt the blunt end of the sheathed cock nudging his entrance.

“And if I say slow and sweet?”

“Then I’ll say sorry after I do this....” Danny gripped Etienne’s hips and pushed in hard and fast, balls deep on the first stroke, and pulling out almost all the way immediately to follow-up with several strokes aimed directly to the prostate. Etienne held back the yell the hard entry almost forced from him and with the subsequent skillful strokes, was moving with his lover, pushing back to meet him. Danny moved one of his hands around to grasp Etienne’s cock then, his hand still slick with lube, and he stroked it in time with his thrusts.

“Fuck...Eti, come with me...come now....” They moved faster and faster, Danny’s hand pumping harder as he pistoned his hips harder and faster, both of them making incoherent sounds as they grew closer to climax. Etienne came first, spilling over Danny’s hand and the door, slumping forward. With a few more strokes, Danny too tensed and then relaxed, resting on Etienne’s back for a moment, before kissing him on the shoulder and then pulling out gently.

They took a few minutes to clean themselves up, using some paper towels left with the cleaning materials. After making sure the coast was clear, they exited the shed and Danny relocked it.

“There you are, good as new. You know, you couldn’t do stunts before like holding me up and kissing me like you did. You’re really getting in good shape...no wonder men are chasing after you.” Danny ran his hands down the muscles of Etienne’s chest, before rebuttoning for him his shirt that had been tossed aside during their lovemaking. First though, his fingers played in the chest hair that seemed to fascinate him. “See what clean living is doing for you?” Danny peered up through his thick lashes before bending down to kiss a nipple one last time.

“It is killing me, you mean,” he replied, biting back a moan of pleasure. He was exhausted yet by the same token, he was willing to start all over again. Danny made him insatiable. Having Danny as a lover meant a far more active, physically demanding lifestyle than Etienne was used to, which in turn brought certain benefits besides the obvious one of frequent incredible sex. Sharing life with Danny forced one to get into shape or be left behind! Etienne found himself learning jujitsu as he helped Danny practice, and he also had to get used to running at six in the morning to keep Danny company. Only the soccer had been familiar to him–he had played as a boy in France and was actually quite good at it, to Danny’s delight. They’d formed teams among the cast and crew and played nearly every day during this rehearsal time outside the city.

Alan had taken the whole cast to a small town in Connecticut to ready them for their tour. While some of the crew commuted from the City, he and Danny, like most of the cast, were staying in a local bed and breakfast that was extremely reasonable. Fortunately, Etienne could cook, since Danny was helpless in the kitchen, and they were able to eat fairly cheaply. Since he was doing the cooking, Danny had insisted on buying the food. This was fine with Etienne except for the fact that Danny was a health nut in his opinion. Left to his own devices, Etienne would have lived on junk food and wine. But for Danny, who was both a finicky eater as well as an obsessive dieter, Etienne had to call upon all his culinary skills to tempt him into eating at all. He’d found that the first step was to eat with him since Danny didn’t like to eat alone. The result was that they both grew healthier and stronger. And closer, since as they ate, they talked.

It was over one of these shared meals that Danny learned about Etienne’s difficult childhood, growing up the bastard child of a rich and titled man whose family would not acknowledge him, but whose very image Etienne was, unlike his legitimate sons.

“So, do you wish to be successful to make your father proud?” Danny asked him once, easily able to relate to a desire to win a callous father’s love.

“No, I do not wish to win his pride or his love, little one. Nothing so sweet, I’m afraid. I look forward to showing the arrogant sod and his bitch wife that I did not need either to be successful, that I was able to achieve more than him without benefit of his wealth and standing.”

Danny had come around the table then and straddled him. “I believe you’ll do exactly that...I’m a seventh son, you know, and we’re gifted with the sight, so you can count on my predictions.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Etienne had murmured, before pulling Danny close for a kiss. “Any other predictions?”

“You’re about to get lucky, very, very lucky,” he’d assured him, before tipping him over in the chair and pinning him to the floor.

Etienne reflected upon their relationship as he caressed the dark hair that he loved so much and held the hard muscular body close. Why had he stormed off so childishly and risked all this, he wondered as the warm hands caressing his chest settled over his heart. Going to a club where one could fulfill any type of sexual whim was something that he would have done in a second before meeting Danny, but it now held no interest for him; now, he wanted to try to work this problem out rather than run away as he used to do with lovers in the past. The sex between them was wonderful, it always was. But that was more a case of Danny marking his territory for Turner’s benefit–like a cat pissing on the furniture, he thought, with a grin. It handled Danny’s issues but not his. Maybe he should have done something similar in front of Sam? That he was even willing to put up with such behavior, much less find it endearing and want to mimic it, was completely alien to him, he realized. He felt as though he’d had a spell cast over him– twenty-seven years old and in love for the first time, he mocked himself even as he tightened his hold on Danny. The increased pressure made Danny look up.

“You were bothered by my singing with Sam, weren’t you? But...it was your suggestion. You’re the hero to everyone in there yet you left before anyone could say anything. It really isn’t like you, to pass up the limelight. Dennings thinks you’re brilliant and Alan wants to adopt you. Instead of taking a bow, as you normally would and soaking up the praise, you ran out here and let creepy Turner kiss you. Would you mind explaining it to me?” Danny leaned against him, somehow making it possible for their bodies to be even closer as he waited for Etienne to speak.

Etienne looked up at the late afternoon sky. “I don’t know if I can.”

“Try.” That voice that had been so seductive a short while ago was implacably hard now. Amazing how many shadings of expression he could achieve, Etienne thought, no wonder he was such a good actor.

Etienne sighed. “Well, first, can you tell me why Sam stopped performing on stage? I didn’t know about that when I had my great idea, you know. There’s so much I don’t know that everyone else seems to already take for granted and I go stumbling in blindly. Like with the wine and your sister.”

Etienne heard Danny exhale, but wasn’t sure whether it was in frustration or some other emotion. He’d never learned why that had been such a misstep that night, why everyone else seemed to know not to bring wine to Danny’s apartment. Danny had gotten over it, fortunately, but he never knew when he’d make another wrong step. Like today. Danny had somehow smoothed the moment over but what if Sam had been unable to perform? It would have been extremely awkward, not to mention killing any chance of securing funding from Dennings. Instead of making Etienne the day’s hero he would have been a fool.

Danny pulled Etienne away from the wall. “Let’s go for a walk.”

“Don’t they need you back inside?”

Danny shook his head. “I was chased away to find you. They’re talking money, but I think they can spare you for now. I already suggested to Alan that you deserve a raise, which is why he chased me out. Sam will take care of you–once he gets over being pissed at you for forcing his hand. Come on, we’ll walk to one of the pubs in town and I’ll buy you a beer and tell you all of my deep dark secrets.”

Etienne let himself be pulled along, pretending a reluctance he didn’t feel.

“All of them, eh? There are so many?” He raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Scads...you’d be amazed.” Danny paused and placed his hands on Etienne’s shoulders. He looked up. “You’re important to me. I want you to know that. I didn’t plan on getting involved with anyone at this point in my life, certainly nothing this intense. Maybe it’ll sound trite to you but I’ve been hurt and I didn’t want to go through that feeling again. But you...you’ve just kind of overwhelmed my defenses.” He gave one of his brilliant smiles and Etienne felt like telling him he had no idea what overwhelmed defenses felt like. Danny gave his shoulders a squeeze and then cuffed him lightly.

“There, that’s one of my secrets. I’ve been in love...got kicked to the curb. Now I’ve sworn off love forever. But lust and sex and singing! Those are things I’ll never give up.” Danny went back to walking, swinging one of Etienne’s hands in his as they walked along companionably.

After a moment, Etienne couldn’t help asking, aiming for playful casualness in his tone. “So, you are somewhat young to have given up on love, don’t you think? May I ask, who was this terrible man who could hurt such a beautiful creature as you, my David? Have your countrymen no appreciation for perfection in body and soul?”

Danny continued to swing their hands as they walked along; he just did it faster, keeping time with their brisk pace. He always had so much energy, Etienne thought, noticing that he had not yet answered the question. That was fine...Etienne had noticed that it was best to be patient with Danny, up to a point. It worked in this instance, even though at first Danny’s topic seemed to be a total non sequitur.

“I like being David...instead of Danny, that is. It is freeing, somehow, if you know what I mean?. Danny has so many expectations on him that David doesn’t. David has a clean slate. No dozen siblings to deal with, certainly no needy sister. Not even any disappointments in love. He can go into this...whatever we have...with a light heart and optimism. Although I would hope he’s not a fucking fool.” Danny flashed a one-sided grin at Etienne.

“And Danny cannot have a light heart or be optimistic?” Etienne asked gently, bending his head down to catch a glimpse into the green eyes that were turned forward again.

“Why do you think you like me so much, Etienne?” Danny changed the subject.

“What is this nonsense? I don’t think I like you, David, I do like you. I feel more than liking for you. David or Danny, as Shakespeare has said, by any name, you’re still you, and what I feel for you, it is very strong, you know that. Is all of this really a roundabout way of saying you really wish to be called Danny?” Etienne was confused and more than slightly concerned. Was Danny still bothered by what he’d observed of Turner’s strange pass at Etienne? That seemed out of character for him...anger would be in character, not insecurity. Even as the thought passed through his mind, Danny belied it with a genuine looking smile and a flash of dimples.