Original Work

NEVILLE:
Strangely quiet, but now the storm
Simply rests to strike again.
Standing, waiting, I think of her.
I think of her.

ARCHIBALD:
Strange, this Mary, she leaves the room,
Yet remains. She lingers on.
Something stirs me to think of her.
I think of her.

NEVILLE:
From death she casts her spell,
All night we hear her sighs,
And now a girl has come
Who has her eyes.

She has her eyes.
The girl has Lily's hazel eyes,
Those eyes that saw him happy long ago.
Those eyes that gave him life
And hope he'd never known.
How can he see the girl
And miss those hazel eyes?

ARCHIBALD:
She has her eyes.
The girl has Lily's hazel eyes,
Those eyes that closed and left me all alone.
Those eyes I feel will never ever let me go!
How can I see this girl who has her hazel eyes?

In Lily's eyes a castle
This house seemed to be,
And I, the bravest knight, became,
My lady fair was she.

NEVILLE:
She has her eyes.
She has my Lily's hazel eyes.
Those eyes that loved my brother-never me.
Those eyes that never saw me,
Never knew I longed
To hold her close,
To live at last in Lily's Eyes!

ARCHIBALD:
Imagine me, a lover!
NEVILLE:
I longed for the day
She'd turn and see me standing there.

NEVILLE: ARCHIBALD:
Would God have let her stay! Would God have let her stay!
She has her eyes. She has her eyes.
She has Lily's hazel eyes. My Lily's hazel eyes.
Those eyes that saw me
Those eyes that first I loved so! Happy long ago.

How can How can
I now forget I now forget
That once I dared to be That once I dared to be in love.

To be alive and whole Alive and whole
In Lily's eyes, In Lily's eyes,
In Lily's eyes! In Lily's eyes!

(Composed by Lucy Simon, lyrics by Marsha Norman)

They finished singing in full crescendo, Sam’s voice so strong that Danny was able to pull out all stops in a way that Etienne had not yet heard him sing, in a way he could not when singing with Etienne, whose voice was no match for his own. He narrowed his eyes as he saw his David singing his heart out...with someone else. For a moment, all was silent, then the rest of the cast appeared, seemingly from nowhere, and applauded wildly. They were joined by Alan and Dennings, both of whom stood, clapping enthusiastically. Sam sat at the keyboard, flushed slightly and looking to Danny's guidance, for once at a loss. Danny leaned down and hugged him tightly, whispering something meant for his ears only. Whatever it was, it made the handsome man relax and smile faintly. Etienne wished he knew what Danny said. Everyone else's words were easily overheard.

“That was great, Sam! Simply wonderful, David. The two of you were fantastic together.” Alan and Dennings walked over to the piano, continuing to congratulate the singers on the performance as Etienne stood a few steps behind, his hands in his pockets. He knew he should say something, and soon, but the words were caught in his throat. Besides, he told himself, it wasn’t as though his David had looked to him for affirmation. His attention was all on Sam, Sam, whose voice was golden, like David’s. Etienne felt as though bile filled his throat. As congratulations and excited discussion of Sam’s and Danny’s duet filled the air, he slipped out a side door in search of fresh air.

“Some performance.”

Etienne turned, startled. It was Jeff Turner. The current but soon to be former Valjean was leaning against the wall outside the stage door, smoking a cigarette. He held out the pack to Etienne. Mindful of Danny’s strictures against smoking for singers, Etienne shook his head regretfully. He really wished for the comfort of a cigarette just then.

Jeff laughed humorlessly.

“What’s the matter? Our dark-haired Angel cut out all your fun? No smokes, no drugs? I bet no extra-curricular sex either, huh? Is he really that good ... for an Angel, I mean?”

Etienne gave the man an unencouraging look. Turner was good-looking, in what Etienne considered to be a very American style, overly macho and aggressive. He spoke in a slow, southern drawl that many seemed to find charming enough to excuse the offensiveness of his caustic comments. Danny had called his casting a case of “Hee Haw does Les Miz.” When Etienne had looked at him blanky he’d insisted on showing him reruns from the odd old country variety show one evening on the country cable channel. He said he had to demonstrate that country music was exactly what Turner would be good at, since he was not good at show tunes. What Danny actually proved, as he entertained Etienne by singing along and making jokes, was that he, Danny, could sing this type of quintessentially American music wonderfully, and also that he could make even an evening spent watching old Hee Haw reruns fun. Etienne didn’t recall thinking all that much about Turner that night or any night.

Until now. He gave him an appraising look.

Etienne permitted himself a slow, cool smile and leaned back against the wall. Although he turned down the offer of a cigarette for himself, he gallantly held out a lighter for the other man, who bent closer to take advantage of it. Turner was a tall man but he didn’t come up to Etienne’s height, something the Southerner was surprised to discover. Attraction flared as he grabbed Etienne’s wrist to steady the light. A way to get back at the hotshot kid occurred to him and he acted on it. He moved closer.

“You don’t let the boyfriend curtail all your fun, do you? I know of a place we could go, a club you’d like, where you can get any kind of action you want.”

Turner was closing in on forty but carried it well. He was well-built, heavily muscled, with thick dark blond hair that he wore long and swept back from his high forehead like a lion’s mane. Etienne had thought him to be straight, or at least primarily so, and wondered what he was up to. He raised an eyebrow speculatively. “And what is the type of action you think I might be interested in, should I go to this club of yours?”

The other man smiled, showing even, white teeth. “A bit of this, a bit of that. Women, men, women and men. Leather, chains...seriously, anything you might like and then some. Members only, and their guests, but I’m a member and y’all could be my guest...any time ya want.” Turner gave him another slow calculating look, accompanying it this time with a caressing hand along Etienne’s thigh. “Long legs y’all got, might be nice to feel what....”

“I suggest you reconsider how you want to finish that sentence, Jeff.” Etienne looked down and firmly moved the hand away. “I’m not available.”

Turner shrugged and smiled.

“Well, y’all can’t blame a guy for trying. Especially when it’s been such a disappointing day...looks like I’ve lost my job and all. Thanks to your young friend getting Maximilian to get over his funk about performing on stage. Hasn’t done it since his partner died, now has he? Never thought to see that happen. Trust the Dark Angel to do it though, huh? Our little miracle worker. For everyone but himself, that is. Well, if y’all change your mind, here’s a card, you can just bring it to Iniquity and they’ll let you in as my guest. Hell, bring the Dark Angel with you. Bye.”

Turner leaned in close and before Etienne could react, kissed him full on the mouth as he tucked a card into his pocket, groping him while he was at it. Guess Jeff wasn’t all that straight after all, Etienne thought, wiping his mouth as he watched the man walk away towards the parking lot.

Making a face at the taste of nicotine, he was glad he didn’t have that cigarette. They really did make your mouth taste like an ashtray, he mused.

Turning to head back inside, he came face to face with Danny.

“David, I didn’t hear you come outside,” he began.

“No? Then I guess you should be rewarded for passing up what Jeff was offering,” Danny’s voice was deeper than usual, his eyes difficult to read. Etienne wasn’t sure how long he’d been standing in the doorway listening to his exchange with the other actor and he was conscious of a vague sense of guilt, as though he’d been caught in wrong-doing. But, he reminded himself, he hadn’t done anything to feel guilty over. He straightened to his full height but couldn’t help reflecting that Danny was that rare man who was never intimidated by another man’s height advantage over him. He had a way of tipping his head to the side as he looked up that minimized any deferential appearance in having to look up at a taller man; instead, it gave him a quizzical look as though he were questioning him. Of course, in this instance, he probably was questioning him, Etienne certainly felt defensive. He made an effort to seem relaxed as he met Danny’s look as openly as he could. His own upset at being ignored forgotten in his concern over being caught with the surprisingly randy Turner.

“Are you angry? I was just getting fresh air and encountered Jeff out here as well. I am not looking for a reward but I must point out that I was neither looking for what Jeff offered nor did I accept it.” He looked searchingly at Danny. It was best to confront a problem like this head-on. If there was one thing Danny hated, he knew, it was the type of lying and subterfuge so many in their world engaged in. While they’d only been seeing each other a few weeks, their relationship had progressed quickly and Etienne felt as though he understood the younger man fairly well. While he wasn’t as open as Danny might wish, he doubted he had it in his character to be that open, he tried to seem to be, and he honestly was more honest than he had ever been in any other relationship in his life. But he feared that he was not capable of all that Danny demanded and never would be.

Etienne’s deep-set eyes appeared sad in his craggy face as he wondered what Danny was thinking. It was amusing in a way, Etienne thought, if Danny were to be jealous of Turner hitting on him, when he had come outside because of his own uncontrollable jealousy over Sam’s singing with Danny. Ah, irony. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, dejection in his posture.

Danny moved quickly then to close the space between them. He pressed his body against Etienne’s, holding Etienne’s face between his hands and kissing him fiercely, running his hands along Etienne’s ribs.

“I don’t like seeing other men groping you,” Danny whispered the words softly into Etienne’s mouth. “You’re mine and I don’t share, certainly not with a fat pig like that who makes you smell like cigarettes and can’t sing.”

Etienne chuckled, wondering which offense was worse in Danny’s mind. Soon enough, however, the heat of the kiss and his growing arousal swept such wayward thoughts from his mind. He wanted to feel Danny’s body even closer and as he felt one of Danny’s hard legs wrap around his waist, he cupped his large hands under the tight ass to lift him up, so Danny could wrap his both legs around him, press them tightly groin to groin as he deepened their kiss. He braced his back against the wall, shifting his feet out in order to support Danny’s weight onto his thighs.

As they continued to kiss, Danny’s hands roved along his body, caressing his arms and chest, teasing his nipples, and sliding down his abdomen, a hand teasingly dipping under his waistband to stroke his cock, but then coming back up again to massage his abs with those strong clever fingers.

After several minutes, his leg muscles burning from the strain, Etienne pulled his mouth away reluctantly, leaning his head back against the brick wall. He gripped Danny’s waist firmly to steady him as he lowered his legs to the ground. Standing on his own two feet again, Danny wasted no time in pressing his body flush against Etienne and wrapping his arms around his neck. Etienne was rock hard, a fact which he knew his jeans did nothing to hide.

We can’t let you go back inside in that condition,” a deliciously deep voice whispered in his ear as tender kisses were placed along the highly sensitive skin behind it. “Good thing there’s a storage shed right outside the theater here, don’t you agree?”

“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.

“No, no such coyness from me!” He laughed. “It’s exactly what it seems, a direct way of saying I like your calling me David. I’m just asking why you think you like me, or, if you prefer, why you do like me. I didn’t mean it to be a trick question, Etienne.” Danny disengaged their hands and ran lightly ahead. He must have excess energy to burn, Etienne thought as he watched him turn a cartwheel on the path, then do a series of flips before ending with an aerial split and a low bow, facing Etienne, who shook his head perplexed, but applauded nonetheless.

“Bravo, bravo! You are ready for the Cirque! How could anyone not love a man who can do flips and cartwheels like that? Never would one be bored with such entertainment at one’s feet! Of course, it isn’t quite the same as telling me something personal, such as why you’ve given up on love, or why I shouldn’t have brought wine to your apartment, but that is quite all right. I am just the man you fuck, I shouldn’t expect more than amusing tricks.” Etienne walked past Danny, quickening his pace, his long legs eating up the ground. Nonplussed, Danny stared after him for a moment, then jogged to catch up, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around.

“Hey, I was just trying to lighten things up! What’s gotten into you?”

Etienne looked down into the beautiful eyes. “Why do you spend time with me, David?”

Danny tipped his head to the side and smiled. “I asked you first.”

“And I didn’t answer, I know. But indulge me. I find it a difficult question to answer and to me, it is not something that is light-hearted, like a cartwheel in the sun. I ask myself, if I step wrong, as I did with the wine, or with asking Sam to sing, will it be my ‘third strike?’ Will I then be out? That is what you Americans say, isn’t it? ‘Three strikes and you are out?’ So, I am worried, me. I think, what do I say? This relationship is important to me, and it is not at all what I had planned for my life at this time. You ask me why I like you and I sense a test that I don’t want to fail. So, here I am, thinking seriously, and you, you start acting silly. So, I ask you, why do you spend your time with me? Maybe that will tell me if this is a serious question or a silly one. Are you asking me if I like your dimples or your soul?”

Danny looked back at him. Etienne had never seemed so attractive as he did at that moment, when all of his layers of charm and his masks seemed to be thrown off and the real man was laid bare. This was more intimate in many ways than when they’d stripped and fucked in the shed. Danny had fucked many men, but he could count on one hand the people he trusted to really tell his secrets to...and he suspected Etienne was the same. Even when he’d told him of his childhood, part of him seemed to be watching to see how Danny was receiving the story. Only now did Danny feel like he was finally seeing the man that he sang with instead of the man who worked so hard to impress everyone. Danny’s own smile was genuinely sweet as he reached out a hand and pulled Etienne close. He brought his other hand around the tall man’s neck in order to bend his head down closer as he spoke in his low, sexy voice.

“Hi, I’m Daniel, but you can call me David. I like dancing, singing, watching old MGM musicals, making love to tall men, and eating chocolate cake– not necessarily in that order. If you’ll let me buy you lunch, I’ll tell you all about my sister, my first French lover and my fatal attraction for tall, dark...chocolate cakes.”

Then Danny kissed him, strong hands caressing his shoulders, his arms...Etienne couldn’t think clearly, all he could do was feel, his senses filling with the incredible warmth and excitement that being in Danny’s arms always brought him. .

“Better yet,” Danny’s full lips moved tantalizingly against Etienne’s mouth as he spoke again, his tongue flicking out and marking a path along his lower lip, making it clear this was only a brief halt in the proceedings, “why don’t we find something to eat back in our room and later tonight, I’ll take you out dancing at that club that Turner invited you to and you can decide how boring I’ve become. Spend time with the infamous Dark Angel, and see if the experience lives up to the rumors? I think your little visit to the woodshed was nowhere near enough punishment for you.”

Etienne closed his eyes and tried to remember what it was like to retain control of a situation for more than five minutes at a time. Standing in the middle of a road, in broad daylight as Danny swept away any trace of his control, Etienne found that not only couldn’t he recall when he last could keep control; he, who once cherished his independence, didn’t give a damn that it was gone.

“Fuck going out,” he managed to answer. “I want an evening alone with you.”

“I hoped you might say that,” his Dark Angel whispered.

*****************************************************

(Two weeks later)

“Lanier, get over here, I need to pick that brain of yours before you leave,” Epstein called over to Etienne, who was getting ready to head out for the night. Rehearsals had been progressing extremely well, since Sam had replaced Turner and Floyd Dennings had given the budget a generous infusion of cash. In addition to sprucing up the costumes, much of the Dennings money had gone into publicity. They planned to preview the show in the small Connecticut town where they’d been rehearsing, and if all went well, they’d open in Philadelphia in three weeks. They’d stay there for a month long run while the rest of their engagements were firmed up, longer if all went well and shorter if it all went poorly.

Danny looked over from where he had just finished helping one of the ensemble singers with a bit of blocking in the barricades scene.

“Do you want me to wait for you?” They were finally going out to the club Jeff Turner had told Etienne about. After working hard for the past two weeks, both of them were in the mood to dance and had arranged to meet several of the cast there, member cards being easy to obtain. Danny and Etienne both tended to scoff at the idea that any club in this small town would live up to the name “Iniquity.”

The director answered for him. “Actually, maybe you’d better come here too. May as well help solve the problem since you helped cause it,” Alan groused.

Danny raised his hands in the air in a “who, me” gesture, but Alan had already turned away. Telling the other actor he’d see him later, Danny strolled over to where Alan and Etienne were, jumping off the stage and dropping down into one of the seats next to the director. Etienne remained standing, leaning gracefully against the stage.

“So, Alan, what is this evening’s crisis?” Danny asked cheerfully. “You’ve had scads of money to spend, thanks to Sam’s old buddy Floyd, the show is shaping up like a dream, and....”

“And ticket sales for the preview weekend are in the toilet, except for the blue haired contingent who always come out for theater, the local drama guild and what not. We’re not selling more because word has gotten around that all the leads are fags. No one’s interested in seeing a show where all the guys are swooning over each other,” Alan finished morosely.

“Really? Since when? What do they think Broadway is all about?” Danny asked, raising an amused eyebrow.

“S’ Wonderful, S‘Marvelous, but it’s also supposed to be about guys going for dolls, kid. Didn’t you get the memo? I bet even the Frenchman knows that.” Pete Jensen had strolled over in time to hear Alan and Danny’s exchange and in his usual way, managed to jump right into the discussion with a pithy comment. Alan shook his head, unamused, but Etienne looked up as though he made a good point.

“Yes, actually, Pete, I, despite being from France, do realize that, and a few things more about what makes a show popular as well. And, correct me if I err, but didn’t we come to this town to preview the show because it is supposed to be a good place for trying out plays, being a place that despite its small size, has a reputation for knowing what makes a winning production, yes?”

Etienne looked to Alan for confirmation of his point and after the director nodded, he went on.

“I too have heard things when I placed some of the publicity items, some gossip, as it were. What I have learned is that our former Valjean, Jeff Turner, is still in the area, and he is even performing in some concerts in the area. I am told by one of the girls at the newspaper office that he has been frequently at the club he mentioned to me previously, this “Iniquity.” It seems our friend Jeff was not best pleased with leaving the show and I think, Alan, that you may be correct that there is a little adverse buzz going on right now.”

“So, what do you suggest we do?” Alan looked up at the cool, confident expression on his assistant director’s face and he could feel his stomach beginning to settle down. Maybe he wouldn’t need to take his antacid after all.

“We confront it ‘straight’ on, dear Alan...David, you and I will go to the clubs tonight as planned, but we shall be even more charming to the local ladies than we perhaps normally are. Peter, could you be persuaded to also go to this club, join those of us who are going there this evening and demonstrate to the fine ladies of this city how very debonair and worthy of their sighs Javert will be?”

Pete Jensen looked at Etienne for a full minute, a look that the taller man returned steadily, his gaze perfectly innocent. Then Pete surprised all of them by bursting out laughing. “I’ll do it. Hell, I’ll hit all the clubs, sweet talk the older ladies and make them swoon. It’ll be worth it, if only to see O’Keefe in action as the Dark Angel. I’ll even make Sam come with me and charm his share.”

“Non,” Etienne said decisively, to the surprise of the other three.

“Why not?” Danny was quick to ask, wondering if he should be offended for his friend’s sake, or if Etienne was still harboring the jealousy of Sam that he tried to hide.

“The point of tonight is to woo the fair ladies of this town, and I shall instruct our leading ladies to be as charming to the men, although it is not the men who choose to go to musical theater. Or at least, the ones who normally do choose to go we will already be attracting I think.” Etienne flashed his quick smile at them. “Our Sam is very gifted and I will talk to him about where he will appear to his, and our, best advantage, but I will not be asking him to flirt with the ladies in bars–our noble Valjean is above that and will remain a man of mystery, an aloof soul. Since he is never seen out and about romantically with men either, he is much the most romantic figure in the cast the way he is. There is no one to know if he is gay or straight–he will break hearts, yes?”

Danny stared at him amazed while Pete and Alan shook their heads in amusement. Pete said, in reluctant admiration, “You sly devil, you’re absolutely right...again, damn you. All the intelligent women in the audience will be totally entranced by him. We’ll just have to trot him out in public once in a while looking his dour self for interviews where he’ll give his usual no comment to anything personal and they’ll all believe him to be Valjean.”

“So Jensen is to charm the senior set, Maximilian is to be romantically aloof for the smart ones; what are you and the kid going to be doing?” Alan asked.

“Since Danny and I are, how does one say it?” Etienne looked down at the five foot ten Jensen, “Versatile? We shall be out there taking one for the team.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Alan looked at Pete. “What does he mean?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “He means, since we’re bi, Alan, we can go out and flirt with the girls, and even fuck them if we have to, to convince the masses that they can work up a good fantasy about us as actors. God forbid the show suffer because it isn’t enough that we play the parts well. We have to have sex appeal too.”

“Danny, if you can’t accept that about being in show business, then you are naive, mon cher, and perhaps in the wrong career,” Etienne told him bluntly, an edge of impatience in his voice. “But no, I am not suggesting you actually fuck anyone, I am merely suggesting you allow the impression of being interested in fucking women to thrive. So yes, flirt...but flirt with flare.”

“Like the French,” Jensen interjected helpfully, greatly amused by the interplay between the two men, especially since he’d known Danny when he was younger and was enthralled with an older French prima ballerina who had raised flirting to an art form.

The green eyes were narrowed to emerald slits as Danny considered Etienne. “Is that how you want me to act tonight? To act like a French...”, he paused and apparently reconsidered his words, “person when we go to ‘Iniquity’?”

Pete snickered. “Chicken,” he murmured.

Danny swung around, happy to have another target for his temper. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Just that if you’re going to call someone a slut, call them a slut to their face. Don’t pussy around about it,” Pete told him, smirk firmly in place. While he wasn’t one to back down from an argument, he also wasn’t about to get into a fight with a young hothead when he found the whole topic vastly amusing. His very obviously entertained attitude was cooling Danny’s temper quicker than anything else could. Pete took the opportunity to give Danny some hard facts he felt the kid was sorely in need of hearing.

“You love to talk about your high ideals, kid, and how you’ll perform in chorus lines rather than sell your talent short by putting out for your lustful billionaire to get the parts you deserve. Good for you, we’re all here for you. But, the truth is, we all have to put out a little, even the great Dark Angel. What Lanier’s talking about is just another version of the same thing, and it’s something we all know and accept on one level or another. It isn’t our talent that fills the seats nine times out of ten and it isn’t what gets us cast. It’s the fact that we look good, pretty, hot, sexy, whatever the fuck you want to call it. Lanier’s the exception to the rule, he’s not a pretty boy like you and me, so he’s more open about using every advantage he does have, his charisma, his brains, his raw sex appeal, he’s got something that people respond to, maybe it’s just his damn height and big nose. But whatever it is, you don’t see him being shy about using it. Call it what you will, but I think your average French person is a lot more pragmatic about reality in general. I think it’s what Les Miz is all about, and what makes it the quintessential French play. To me, it is a play about survival as much as a play about redemption, and if I were staging it, I’d give the innkeeper and his wife the last words and the last laugh.”

Etienne considered Jensen’s words. Here was yet another interesting idea to store away for when he was the one directing this play and had full control, he thought. For now, he had to calm down his angry lover who looked ready to explode.

“So you want me to believe that with all the years you spent training your voice to sing some of the world’s most challenging and beautiful music, all that really mattered for the roles you sang is that you have wavy black hair and a thirty-four inch waist?” Danny’s voice was low and controlled but his eyes were shooting green sparks.

“Please!” Jensen looked pained. “Not a millimeter more than thirty-two inches! And in the world of opera, that makes me slimmer than most of the women!” After the laughter, which Danny grudgingly joined in, died away, Jensen added gently, “I don’t care what you believe, young Daniel. You asked why I called you chicken. I say you’re chicken if you don’t have the nerve to speak your mind completely. If you hold back for fear of hurting feelings, instead of saying what you mean to the very people with whom you can speak your mind, then you are foolishly a coward. There are few enough people in this business to whom you can say what you think, you may as well speak openly when you can. But as far as the idea that Lanier’s plan makes you a whore– I’ll go to the mat with you that is what you wanted to say– bullshit. If your high ideals won’t even let you do that much, to flirt with some potential fans, and make nice with the theatergoers, then you, Danny Boy, are in the wrong fucking business.”

“He’s right, kiddo.” Alan, who had listened quietly through the whole argument, spoke up. “You bit my head off before, kid, when I said to make nice with Simon, and you were right to do so. But this is different. Even the biggest stars, if they know what’s good for them, remember to be good to their fans, and help with publicity. It helps to have the stars work the crowds. Not that you’re a star...but you will be some day. A little practice wouldn’t hurt. Time to come off your high horse.”

“Me, I plan on being a very big star so I practice all the time. I keep pens on me for signing autographs. Though I think perhaps Etienne Lanier is too cumbersome a name. I should perhaps change it, yes? What do you think, my David Luke, which is a very good star name, I think. I could give myself an American name, become Stephen Laner?”

“Just Lane, you want to avoid the two double syllables with similar vowel consonant construction,” Danny said automatically, his mind still on what Pete and Alan had said. Was he too sensitive on this point, could a person’s ideals be too high?

“I think you are quite right, Lane sounds much better.” Etienne looked down at Danny, who's lovely mouth was turned down at the ends and his thoughts clearly turned inward. Pete looked like he was about to say something more but Etienne elbowed him sharply. “I think it is time for us to go if we are to be ready to go out tonight. I shall see you all later. Au revoir.”

Danny looked relieved to be able to escape without further discussion. He made his good-byes so quickly that Etienne found that he had to walk quickly to catch up to him outside. He considered whether it was worth discussing Jensen’s comments or whether it would be better to wait for Danny to regain his good mood.

He turned his thoughts to Jensen. Danny had mentioned to him that he thought Jensen’s frequent allusions to his nationality indicated a bias against the French and had offered to say something to the man, but the comments just amused Etienne and he’d told Danny to ignore it. Once he’d learned of Danny’s prior relationship with an older French woman, he had a better understanding of some of Jensen’s digs at him which had previously sailed over his head. He suspected that Jensen had been waiting for him to ask him about Danny’s past, and was glad he’d never given in to the temptation. The man was a compulsive gossip and while he sometimes seemed to be on Danny’s side, Etienne didn’t trust him completely. He suspected that Pete Jensen mainly looked out for Pete Jensen. It was an attitude he could respect, even if he didn’t trust it in others.

When they got back to their room, Danny went immediately into the bedroom.

“Do you mind if I take the first shower?” It was the first Danny spoke since they left the theater. Etienne debated saying yes just to get a conversation going, but then decided the shower might help sooth Danny’s mood. It was a shame the shower was too small for them to even consider sharing it.

“No, go ahead. I think I’m going to make a salad and perhaps we can have it with the rest of that bread from yesterday. Just enough to give us something to soak up the beer we’ll drink later would be wise, I think, though I must admit you have an amazing capacity for beer.” Etienne’s tone was suitably respectful. For all that he weighed at least forty pounds more, he’d found that Danny could drink him under the table if they kept to beer, and was able to pretty much match him when it came to other beverages.

“Comes from growing up in a tavern owning family,” Danny called in from the bathroom, raising his voice over the sound of the taps. “You build up a tolerance over time from stealing swigs from everyone’s glass as you clear the tables.”

“Sounds disgusting. You must build all sorts of tolerances that way,” Etienne answered in mock horror.

“True, I hardly ever catch colds or other germ viruses, now that you mention it,” Danny laughed.

You had to say one thing for Danny, Etienne thought, as he chopped up some carrots, Danny’s favorite snack food, he got angry quickly but never stayed that way for long. He was just finishing his preparations when strong arms wrapped around his waist and a freshly shaved chin came to rest on his shoulder.

“I’m truly sorry for my words and my behavior. Will sincere penitence earn me carrots?”

“Ah, you would get carrots even without the penitence, because I love you. And can the penitence be said to be sincere if it is offered in hope of reward?” Etienne leaned back against the strong bare chest.

“I am sorry, Eti,” the deep voice softened as the muscular arms tightened around him. “Do you think I’m too idealistic or unrealistic? I need for you to understand.”

Etienne twisted around so he could face Danny, who was distractingly sexy in just black jeans that rode below his hips.

“To be truthful, David, there is something in what Peter says. Whether or not it is because I am French, I am pragmatic. Perhaps with this face, I have to be. No,” he smiled as Danny started to object, “I know my strengths and my weaknesses. My looks are both a weakness and a strength. I may not be as pretty now as Peter Jensen, which is a weakness, but my strength lies in the fact that I daresay my looks will wear far better than our friend Peter’s, and I will be called ruggedly attractive long after his matinee looks have gone to seed. This is especially true because Peter does not take care of himself. But that is neither here nor there. What you have asked is whether I think you are too idealistic, or, in other words, setting yourself on too high a standard, and the answer is no. I don’t think you would refuse to do what I actually have in mind for tonight, as opposed to what you thought I was suggesting. I was proposing that we market the play by marketing ourselves, that we flirt and be a presence in the clubs, presenting ourselves as attractive, available men, the stuff of fantasies. When you are advertising clothes for Dolce and Gabbana, you sell an image, yes? Well that is what we will be doing tonight. Selling the image of young, handsome men on the town. Do I expect you to be taking home any one woman? Not really, since we share a room, and, I hope, a relationship. But also, and yes, pragmatically, if you are particular to one lady, you do not foster the fantasies of the dozens that you could be fostering if you are clever.” He winked at Danny.

“Do I understand your sensitivity on this point? I was the one, was I not, who said that it was wrong of Alan to suggest you give in to that bastard Simon. There is no similarity between encouraging fans and encouraging a..a..a sugar daddy!”

Danny laughed at the distasteful expression on Etienne’s face as he mentioned Simon’s name. He kissed him before moving away to drop down onto the battered sofa in the living room that adjoined their small kitchen. Etienne appreciated the picture he made, sprawled out in just his tight jeans, one leg up over the top of the old couch and both arms folded behind his head, the sculpted muscles of his abdomen and chest on display. Etienne could feel his arousal flare in response to the sight– he didn’t think he’d ever get used to Danny’s perfection.

“I’m glad you see it my way. Sometimes I feel as though I’m the only one, other than maybe Arthur, who does. Angel insists that I’m being stupid, that no one would think less of me, but, the thing is....”

He stopped, his voice drifting off as he looked at the ceiling. Etienne wondered what he was seeing, surely not just the cobwebs that clung to the ceiling fan, but some events from his past perhaps? So many troubles for such a young man.

“What is it, mon petit? Nothing is that bad, surely.”

Danny exhaled heavily. “With Judith, I allowed myself to think that I was chosen for my talent. I thought that she picked me out of all the young male dancers she could have worked with to enter in the East Coast competition because of my fine dancing. It was a rude awakening when I heard the dancers in her troupe talking about me. They called me Judith’s stud, the football player in toe shoes and tights.”

Etienne bit back a laugh and Danny looked over with a half smile touching his lips. “Oh, go ahead and laugh. I know it’s funny. There I was, excited as all get out, with my big chance to be a real dancer, but looking to all of them, the real dancers I admired so much, like some muscle bound refugee from the locker room. But the thing was, Eti, I wasn’t just some jock like they assumed. I’d been dancing since I was two. For years I’d been getting up at five in the morning during soccer seasons in order to have enough time to dance. I always put dance first, ahead of sports, ahead of music, ahead of school, ahead of everything! But the fact that I was an athlete too, and good at it, guaranteed that none of the professional dancers took me seriously. Except Judith. I thought she believed in me. But she told me flat out when I confronted her, all ready to quit after hearing them mock me for my muscles and my looks, that yes, she had chosen me because of my ‘beauty and my body.’ She just looked at me, in this way she had of making a person feel two inches tall, and asked, ‘So what exactly is your problem, Daniel? Of course I chose you for your beauty, for your muscular body. It is exactly what I am looking for. You should be happy for that.’” Danny spoke in a husky French accent, which Etienne knew must be an accurate mimicry of his former lover’s voice, he was eerily good at duplicating voices, even female voices, and this voice was deep for a woman, a coldly amused voice. Etienne was surprised to learn that he could hate someone he never met, but he was sure that he hated this Judith.

Danny shifted back to his voice. “She told me it was up to me to prove there was more to me than my looks. I could complain all I wanted about unfairness, but she was going to save her pity for the poor souls who were born incredibly talented and ugly since they did not get Judith as their teacher because she had chosen me. She assured me that those dancers, or those with simply the wrong type of body, too short or too chunky, they all would have a far harder time getting a chance in the world of dance than I ever would and would love to have my kind of unfairness.” Danny flashed one of his better smiles at Etienne. “Basically, she told me to suck it up.”

“It sounds like it was good advice, to a point,” Etienne said carefully, keeping his face blank. I take it you listened to it and did not quit. You danced with Judith and proved you could do it, and it was a wonderful experience.” Etienne walked over and placed a plate of carrots on the toned stomach, trying to win another smile. He got only a half-hearted version of the one he loved. He sat on the arm of the couch for a minute before going back to finish making dinner, but Danny had other plans. He leaned up, making room and giving Etienne a coaxing smile.

“Come, sit here and you can be my pillow while we talk. I’ll finish dinner while you shower. Promise. Even I can make a salad.”

Etienne was happy to give in, slipping down onto the cushion, and gently pushed the curly dark head back down onto his lap. He lightly massaged the broad shoulders and wondered if he could get by without a shower and simply enjoy the next hour like this, relaxing. The contented expression on Danny’s face made him hesitate to bring up the subject of their discussion again, but he didn’t know when he’d next get Danny in such an open, confiding mood and there was so much he wanted to know about him. He made up his mind.

“We can get by with bread and cheese...and carrots. Tell me more about you and your ballerina. I know you won the Eastern States Ballet Competition several years ago. The ESBC is the only one that really matters here in the US, isn’t it?”

Danny grinned. “More or less. They no longer hold the National, since the Eastern winner pretty much always wins. The other regions don’t stand a chance so they stopped coming and wasting their money. Another case of prejudice in the dance world, really, since there’s nothing to say a girl or guy from a Texas or North Dakota school couldn’t be fantastic, but it’s hard enough for any student outside the New York area to have a chance. Judith shook things up when she came over from France and taught me, but part of the reason she did it was because an old teacher of hers had opened a school in Delaware and had students get the shaft year after year. So Judith decided to find some students to teach for several months and then enter them in the competition.”

“Did your female counterpart win also?” Etienne continued his massage, happy to see that Danny seemed to be shaking off some of the shadows as they spoke.

“No, none of the girls she coached finished quite as high, though they did well. But, what was better was that the winner came from Judith’s old teacher’s school. I sometimes wonder if Judith didn’t try quite as hard when it came to teaching the girls, although candidly, none of them worked their asses off as I did. Judith was a slave driver. During the time I was doing soccer and dance, I thought I was going to die from exhaustion.”

“But, you managed...more than managed...you excelled, yes? That was your senior year, you were a star at football! Didn’t you win recognition at that as well? How could you do that and dance at the level you had to in order to win the competition and....” He didn’t say it but what he was thinking was, how did the seventeen year old Danny manage to keep a thirty-some year old woman sexually satisfied at the same time? Etienne bent his head to try getting a better look at Danny, who had an odd smile on his face.

“I gave up sleeping. There were times that year I wanted to cry from exhaustion.” His laugh was slightly bitter that time. “When our team lost the play-off game that ended the season and didn’t go to the state finals, I was thrilled, but I had to pretend to be devastated. Best acting I did that year.” He looked up at Etienne, his green eyes dark. “I learned a great deal that year so it was worth it. I learned I could push myself a lot further than I ever thought. In the process, I became a far better dancer, enough to realize that I needed to learn a great deal more. Enough to know that dance is what I love most. I wish I could dance for you, Eti. I’ve missed it since I’ve been back. I practice but it isn’t the same. I miss those days now, but if I’m honest, I have to admit that working with Judith, dancing with her and being her lover at the same time, it had a price.”

Danny stopped talked and once again seemed lost in his contemplation of the ceiling as he munched on carrots. Etienne waited a moment and then nudged him gently.

The other dancers barely talked to me. I didn’t know why until after we broke up. That’s when I learned about her partner back home, Nikolai. She never bothered telling me about him. In serious dance circles I was known as her boytoy and that kind of made it impossible for me to be taken seriously. I’m exaggerating, it’s not impossible for me, but I do start out with a couple of strikes against me. I think that’s why it was so easy for Simon to blackball me. If the rumors about me hadn’t already been there, I think it would have been harder for him to so completely shut me out of dance. Some company would have given me a chance, don’t you think? But between the two of them, Judith and Edward, my reputation was shot. Instead of just being the football player in toeshoes and tights, I’m the boytoy football player in toeshoes and tights. Or rather, since this is the States, I’d be the soccer player. Angel finds that very confusing. She kept asking me why Judith didn’t know what sport I played.” Danny smiled, but it was a sad copy of his usual effort.

Etienne ran soothing fingers through the long dark hair. “Simon’s offer to ‘mentor’ you must have felt like a bad joke.”.

“Exactly. At least I honestly loved Judith, and she did teach me a lot. Enough so I can hold my head up high in front of real dancers even if they are snickering about me, and I think I honestly won that dance competition. Against students from Juilliard too. I owe Judith a lot. But Simon is a whole different game. He bought his way into positions of influence in the dance world in order to be able to influence my career. The same with singing. He did have some dealings in the theater but not significantly until after he started stalking me. He just wants to give me a golden cage to play in and I don’t want to learn what he has to teach me.”

“Good thing I have no money, all I have is my brilliant talent and my incredible body,” Etienne told him, bending to brush his lips over that tempting mouth, tracing the full bottom lip with his tongue.

“Hmm, don’t forget the example of your engaging modesty. That’s especially worth copying. But don’t get me going now.” Danny broke away before Etienne could kiss him again. “ We’ll never leave our rooms tonight and you’ll never make that interview if you make me any hornier. We haven’t had sex for hours. Which reminds me, how do you plan on adorning that incredible body tonight? Are we going out dressed like straight guys, since we are emphasizing our bi-sexuality tonight? I can’t wait to see you hitting on women.”

Etienne drew his brows together as he gave the question serious thought.

“This is a good question. Do we wear different clothes as bi-sexual men than as gay men? Or than as straight men? You are the high fashion model, I will defer to you. Is there a different way to dress if we wish to increase our attractiveness to women than men? I don’t think I’ve ever given it much thought, which is odd for me, as I tend to analyze everything, but then, I don’t have anywhere near as many clothes as you. Of course, I don’t know any five people, male or female, who have as many clothes as you, David.”

Danny laughed at the comical face Etienne made, even as he protested, “I need lots of clothes, Eti! But now that you mention it, I can’t imagine how you get by with just those two ratty pairs of jeans of yours, one nice pair of slacks, and those couple of shirts! Maybe you aren’t bi, maybe you’re really straight and simply making an exception for me? Before I get side-tracked again, and you know how easily that happens, I forgot to tell you. I grabbed you some shirts when I was in the city the other day. And a couple pairs of jeans. I’m pretty sure they’ll fit, you’re almost my brother Jamie’s size, just thinner. You can try some on tonight if you like.”

“You bought me clothes?” Etienne didn’t know whether to be pleased or annoyed. He was pleased at the thought that Danny wished to give him a gift, and annoyed by the apparent motivation revealed by his all too accurate, and critical, inventory of Etienne’s wardrobe. If there were one major point of contention between Danny and himself as roommates, it would be clothes. To him, they existed to keep one warm in winter and prevent chafing in summer. To Danny, they were a reason for existing in and of themselves. His clothes took up the entire closet and all of the drawer space in their small bedroom, as well as an extra dresser in the living room. Etienne also suspected the clothes addict of having talked the wardrobe mistress into letting him store some extra clothing with her.

“You don’t mind, do you? And I didn’t spend a lot. I get a discount as a model.” Those toned arms came up around Etienne’s neck again as a teasing note entered the deep voice. Etienne reflected that there weren’t many things that the combination of those arms and that voice couldn’t get him to agree to. “It would have been a crime not to buy them, they were so cheap.” He kissed the base of Etienne’s neck, nuzzling the area where his collarbone met.

“Besides, I felt bad about taking up all the closet space with my clothes so I made some room for your things and then I realized that you really didn’t have anything to put in it. So I picked up some things for you as a present, and...just because....” Danny’s voice trailed off.

Etienne looked down and gave him a shrewd look. “You want to dress me in more flattering clothes.”

“If that were true, and I’m not admitting to anything, mind you, would that be a bad thing?” The green eyes looked slightly anxious now. Danny didn’t want to hurt Etienne’s feelings. Because of the cocky attitude the man presented to the world, it was easy to forget that there was a more sensitive soul underneath, a fact that Danny was coming to understand more all the time.

“No, it is a good thing, and you know me, I take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way. If this includes getting your good taste to choose clothes for me, excellent! But, I would prefer to purchase the clothing myself, so no more gifts unless it is my birthday, which is not for many months. I am a Christmas baby, so you can give me double gifts in December. So, no, you can not buy me enough clothes to make me chic, or I shall think you have designs on my body, like the evil Simon, yes?”

Danny shook his head at Etienne’s nonsense, relieved that the awkward moment was past and amused, as always, by the tall man’s sense of humor. “I do have designs on your body, always. Let’s skip eating and instead I can show you just what kind of designs I have before we finish getting ready, okay?” He looked hopefully.

Etienne shook his head, regretfully. “I don’t think there is time for your designs before we need to leave. At this point, even eating must be done quickly. Then I will dress, also quickly, and leave for the radio station for a live interview. Do you want to go with me or meet up at the club”

“Why don’t we meet up there? I have a few calls I should make and then since I’m doing the straight thing, I may as well hit a few bars before going on to the main event. What station are you going to be on? I’ll listen to your interview while I’m driving.”

After taking the time to grab a very quick dinner, Danny helped Etienne dress for an evening that included both an interview and clubbing.

“It’s not as though anyone will see me; it’s a radio interview,” Etienne objected when Danny insisted on styling his hair, after sending him back into the bathroom to shave. “It is more important to be on time than how I look when no one can see me.”

“Being on time is important but you still have enough if you stop arguing with me. Plus, people will see you, the interviewer for one. Plus, radio stations have websites, and they might put a picture of you on it. Also, there’s no saying what type of influence the interviewer might have in a small town like this. Isn’t that the type of advice you’re always giving me? So, look as dashing as you can for her. I suggest this russet silk shirt over the dark brown wife beater. You can always take it off later at the club. And the cream colored slacks. You’ll look good enough to eat. Take your brown leather jacket for over your shoulder, it’s still pretty cool here in the evenings.”

“Did you play with your sisters’ Barbie dolls when you were a little boy?”

“No, just the Ken dolls. I matched them with my brothers’ GI Joes and they loved happily ever after, once I used play-doh to give them cocks, that is.”

“Ah, so you’re not a believer in the adage that clothes make the man...or doll, I take it?”

“Well, in some cases, a little extra help is needed. But in your case, no play-doh will be needed...those pants hint at your package nicely, you well-hung man, you. You look fantastic, Eti, as I knew you would.” Danny made no effort to hide his smugness.

Etienne stared at himself in the mirror, reluctant to admit that somehow the well-made clothes did make him look less gangly and angular. He looked broader, more imposing. The earth tones flattered his coloring, bringing out the reddish highlights in his brown hair and the warm creamy tone of his skin. The way Danny had styled his hair, which he was wearing longer for the play, was more flattering also, emphasizing his strong cheekbones and jaw instead of his large nose. And yes, the cut of his slacks made him look...impressive...without being crude.

Why, he almost looked handsome, he thought with an inward smile.

Danny peered over his shoulder. “You are an incredibly striking man, and the interviewer will be creaming in her knickers,” he predicted.

“Women don’t wear knickers any more,” Etienne pointed out, pleased, nonetheless, by the sincere admiration he saw in Danny’s eyes.

“No, but ‘she’ll cream in her thong’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it,” he reasoned. “Can’t wait to see you at ‘Iniquity,’ even if we can’t dance together. You do realize my goal will be to get you to cream in your knickers?” Danny gave him an impish look.

“I don’t know whether to be worried or excited,” Etienne said lightly.

“Be both,” Danny offered generously.

Looking at the sparkling eyes that his mirror showed peeking over his right shoulder, Etienne was struck by the intense feelings he had for this man he’d known for less than two months. Up to now, his life had been filled with a single-minded pursuit of his goals; yet in a day, Danny had turned his priorities on their heads, and in their place brought him laughter, joy...and love.

Etienne felt light headed...and even a little nauseous. He really didn’t have time in his life for love. It had occurred to him before this that he was falling in love with Danny O’Keefe, but he thought it would fade. He thought it was just a crush, like he often felt for any new romantic interest, especially one as beautiful and sweet as Danny, not that he could remember ever knowing anyone as beautiful and sweet as Danny. And not that Danny was all sweetness, far from it. He was spoiled and hot tempered and demanding at times and those faults made Etienne love him even more. All of which was not good for Etienne, because it made Etienne stop focusing on his goals, and think instead of what would help further Danny’s career. He could easily see how he could help make Danny a major star, with the talent and beauty that the young man had. But to do that, Etienne would have to stop thinking only of himself, which was not at all what he was used to doing. He was twenty-seven years old. He did not have that much more time to achieve success, the type of success he wanted. He had no illusions about how long a relationship, especially a gay relationship, lasted. Playing Pygmalion was not quite what he had in mind for his life, which was just as well, since Danny was already fighting off another would be Svengali. Funny how the two roles tended to get blurred.

“Etienne, are you alright?” Hands were warm on his shoulders as he leaned against the dresser, sweat dotting his brow. The deep voice was filled with concern now. No wonder, he looked like he’d seen a ghost. He managed to dredge up a reassuring smile.

“Just pre-interview jitters. I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll get you some water...you look ready to pass out. Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you?”

Etienne turned around and watched as Danny walked over to the small kitchen. What should he do? Stay with this show, and Danny, now that he realized he was getting in much deeper than was sensible? Or get out while the getting was good? He cared, damn it, that this young man had been hurt by that woman, that Judith. He worried that Edward Simon was determined to get him into his bed. And he knew that if he had the chance to direct him, he could make a movie with Danny O’Keefe that would make people stand up and take notice. Of both of them.

Maybe it wasn’t an either/or situation? Maybe he could have Danny, and reach his goals? Love, and success, for both of them. Three for three. Who said you can’t have it all?

It could be done. He took a deep breath, and then turned and gave Danny a jaunty grin.

“You make this gutter rat look respectable, my David. When I collect my Oscar in a few years, I will be sure to consult with you on my ensemble.”

“You do that,” Danny laughed as he handed Etienne a glass of water. “Assuming I’m not there with you, collecting my own, of course.” He walked over to the closet and started looking through his many shirts, beginning the lengthy process of selecting his own clothing for the evening. “So...” Danny’s voice was muffled from being in the closet. How apt, Etienne thought, amused, given their assignment tonight. “I’ll plan on meeting up with you by about ten, okay?”

“It’s a date. Don’t dress too sexy, I want to be able to fight my way through all the women and reach you at some point.”

Danny poked his head back out. “Damn, now you tell me. I was all ready to wear my see-through pants with the spangled thong, drives the women crazy with lust.”

“Uh huh, the women...it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Maybe I should cancel the interview and stay and supervise your clothing?” Etienne lingered in the doorway.

“Get your bony ass out of here, Lanier. I know how to act like a breeder stud. I’ll bet you a blowjob on it, but for now, you get to your interview, knock ‘em dead and all that.”

“I’m going to hold you to that bet,” Etienne warned. “But I want something other than a blowjob...you would give that anyway, why not up the stakes?”

Danny looked over sharply, his clothes forgotten. Etienne was smiling still but there was a predatory look in his eyes. Danny knew what he wanted. They’d had a few discussions about it earlier on in their relationship, before they’d gotten closer and Danny had made his preference clear. Etienne had raised it again a few weeks later but he’d stated it wasn’t up for debate. Most of his relationships ended then, if it was going to be a problem because it wasn’t something he wanted to argue about every time he made love. Etienne had seemed to accept it, however, and hadn’t raised it again. Danny had begun to relax, thinking the issue had been put to rest. Funny that it was coming up now after they’d shared so much today and he felt so much closer to Eti. Or maybe that’s why the other man felt it was the right time to press the issue of their lovemaking being more reciprocal?

Stupid to let something like a bet decide a sensitive issue like that, but Danny felt the pressure of the old O’Keefe masculinity mantra, never turn down a challenge. He heard himself answering as though it were someone else, “Sure, any stakes you want.”

Etienne’s face lit up.

“Then I will win this bet, David, because I want you, completely. Are you sure?”

“I’m sure I will win the bet, so yes, Etienne, I’m sure. But I also want to be sure of the terms of the bet. So, to be clear, I will be yours, any way you want me, and you’ve made it clear how you want me is ass in the air and well lubed, if you are the, how shall we word it, king of the ball tonight?”

Etienne lost his look of excitement at the crude words delivered in a hard voice. “We don’t have to bet.”

The green eyes glittered. “No, we do. I don’t back down from bets, Eti. And this is something you want. I win, I get a fucking fantastic blowjob to end all blowjobs. Although, like you, I also want to make it special. So, let’s see. I’ll want to tie you up with leather and spank you first. You win, I bottom. I win, I get some bondage with my blowjob. Deal? And hurry up, you’re going to have to take the car to your interview as it is or you’ll be late.”

“Are you sure?” Etienne was sorry he’d even brought up the idea of a bet, although on one level, he was excited by the idea of the outcome, win or lose.

“Eti! You’re late! Of course I’m sure! Now hurry but leave the car at the radio station, parking is better down there, we can pick it up later. Say deal and get going.”

“Deal. Love you.”

“Uh huh, you love my body, but I don’t blame you, I love yours, now run!” Danny blew him a kiss and shoved him out the door with an exhortation to break a leg. After closing the door, he came back in and stared in the mirror for a few minutes, examining first his face, and then the body that so fascinated others, running his hands lightly over his toned chest and stomach. Making a face at himself, finally, he turned away and went over to the phone. He pulled a paper from his pocket and then dialed a number that was written on it.

“Luke? Hey! So you arrived?... Why aren’t you staying at the apartment?....There’s room, I’m not there, I’m in Cheltonham...yeah, with the show...It’d be better if you were with her, you could keep an eye on her...better than I can...will I see you?... Tonight? No way!...Nothing important...Publicity shit...’Iniquity’...yeah, I know... you’d probably like it...I don’t think so...Listen, it would be great to see you but if you can’t make it tonight, tomorrow would be just as good, probably better since I won’t have to worry about making nice with ‘the public.’ Yeah, that’s the orders from the director and assistant director, to combat the idea that we’re a bunch of fags...well, yeah, we are a bunch of fags and no, playing Frenchmen and fags isn’t the same thing, tell Red.”

After a few more minutes in the same vein, Danny gave his brother the address of the club and the bed and breakfast and they made arrangements to meet at one place or the other if Luke got into town that night.

Danny finished getting ready in a much better mood, looking forward to seeing his big brother soon. He hadn’t played “Dark Angel” for some months, which is how he thought of his clubbing persona, the personality he’d assumed when he’d first started going out in the City with his wild sister Angel after his heartbreak from Judith. He’d left that stage behind in large part but it was a handy personality to assume on occasion. It would be fun to see Etienne’s reaction to his alter ego, especially if “Iniquity” lived up to its billing. Giving himself one last look in the mirror before he turned out the light, he reflected that there was little chance Etienne would win the bet...if he even remembered it after Danny finished his performance. But he didn’t expect there to be any complaints. Closing his mind to any sense of regret that he’d even entered into the bet, or what the night would do to the increasing closeness he and Etienne had been experiencing, Danny locked up and headed off toward town, walking briskly, his long hair flowing loose and free behind him.

Dressed all in black, he looked like a romantic figure from a gothic novel. His sleeveless shirt, open at the neck, revealed a wide expanse of chest, but was narrowly fitted through the waist so it easily tucked in at the low cut button front black jeans that rode below his pelvic bones. Well worn black leather boots with a two inch heel and an ebony cross that seemed at odds with his rather vampiric appearance, and a weathered black leather jacket tossed casually over one shoulder, completed his outfit.

Danny went first to the local “pub” type bar, first slipping his leather jacket on and tying his hair back securely before entering. Through subtle shifts in posture and by covering his chest and arms, he completed the transformation from Dark Angel to David Luke. After standing in the doorway surveying the large interior for a few moments, he chose to head for the smaller of two bars and found a seat on a barstool near a group of older men rather than going to the larger bar that served the younger crowd near the bandstand. He ordered a beer from the genial looking bartender.

“What type, we got six on draft, Coors, Coors Light, Heineken, Miller, Miller Light and Mich.” The gruff older man gave him a look and his hand started toward the Coors Light.

Danny grinned at him. “You can save the piss water, do ye happen to have any Guinness back there for me? And don’t ye try giving me a light Guinness, thank ye very much. 'Tis sacrilege, is what ‘tis! My brother wouldn’t stock it in his pub.” Danny spoke in a copy of his oldest brother’s light brogue.

The man grinned back at him. “Well, if I’d a known you were an Irish lad, I wouldn’t have asked! You want the real thing, then. Extra Stout. I think I can find a bottle around here somewhere for you. I’m Joe. Your brother has a bar then?” The man placed the bottle down, along with a clean glass, which he offered with his hand to shake.

Danny ignored the glass but reached out to accept the handshake, saying, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Joe. David Luke. I’m an actor with the play rehearsing down at the theater. And yep, family business is pubs, my dad started with one, oh, forty some years ago, down in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My oldest brother helps him run them now, along with a couple of the brothers-in-law now that they’ve built the business up to three pubs. Dad can’t handle it all on his own. But growing up, all of us put our time in, one way or another.”

Danny took a big swig of his beer as Joe looked impressed. One of the other men snorted and commented to the group at large.

“That’s a nice set-up, three pubs! Must have made your dad pretty ticked off to see you head out on a cock-eyed scheme like being an actor, didn’t it. son, young fellow like you, with a nice business like that to go into?”

Danny expected the comment. He knew his New Englanders. For that matter, he’d heard the same comments often enough from his father’s cronies. He swung around on his bar stool and flashed a friendly smile at the man who spoke even as Joe tried to hush the man.

“Come on now, Ed, give the boy a break. Good looking fella like him, it’s natural he’d want to try his hand at acting instead of settling down to tending bar in one of his daddy’s pubs, right David?”

“Well, to tell you the truth, Joe, three pubs might sound like a lot, but since I’m the youngest of twelve, Dad wasn’t all that sorry that I wasn’t looking to run one of his places when I got out of school. My oldest brother helps Dad run the pubs with my oldest sister’s husband, and my second brother handles the money. Now, as far as good looks go, my handsome brother went into the law, figuring he could sway juries with his beauty. Of course, we all say he should have stuck to earning an honest living, but would he listen?” Danny smirked as he raised his bottle of stout to the men and drank deeply. They joined in, lawyers always being good for a laugh.

“So,” Ed looked at Danny closely. “You’re in the musical that’s previewing soon, Les Miserables? Which part?”

One of the other men, a stooped, white haired old guy who looked to be about a hundred, waved his hand impatiently. “Don’t ask foolish questions, Ed. Look at the boy. It’s plain as the nose on your face! Enjolras or Marius! His voice is rather deep for Marius. Too young for Javert or Valjean and he’s too good-looking to be an ensemble player. So I’m guessing Enjolras. Am I right? Eh?”

“Well, Ray, you can’t tell always. He could well be one of the students. Maybe he’s all looks and can’t sing worth a tinker’s damn!” Ed blustered back while Danny sat back on his stool, slightly nonplussed by the discussion. He’d planned on having a beer, dropping off a comp ticket or two, and moving on to the next bar. Instead he’d landed into the middle of the local drama critics meeting from the sounds of it.

Danny glanced to the side and found himself being eyed critically by the third man in the group, who’d been quiet up until then. Catching his eye, that man began to speak. “Well, your voice is deep but you often find that the true tenor has a low speaking voice. Moreover, Marius is one of those broad range parts. I would call it a baritone role myself, but for a few notes. What it does call for is a decent actor. Can’t stand seeing someone in the part who is all voice and no acting chops, which is what you get in most of these road companies. I know these men will disagree with me on this, but I can put up with an average singer if he can make me suspend belief, because that is why I go to the theater, damn it! If I just want to listen to music I’ll go to a concert!”

Suddenly, the man, who was blond, and thin and reminded Danny of his friend Vic Grassi from back home in Pittsburgh, poked Danny and asked, “Well, will you make me suspend belief, young David? Will I believe you’re a young Frenchman fighting for freedom?”

“Oui, M’sieur!” Danny jumped off his barstool and bowed low, sweeping his hand to the side as though tipping his hat.

“Enjolras,” Ray said, looking satisfied.

“I still say running a pub is a good living,” Ed grumbled.

“That’s because you run a bank,” Joe told him. “And I think he’s Marius. How about singing a song for us, David. Show these clowns that you’re in the right profession.”

Danny propped himself back on his barstool. “I don’t know if I could ever convince Ed here, my dad was hard enough. But I’d be glad to sing a song. What would you like?”

“Well, are you a tenor or a baritone?” Ray asked. “Tom here, he doesn’t care, but he might make you do Hamlet’s soliloquy for him later.”

“There you go, ‘Soliloquy!’ Sell that one to me,” Tom decided, smirking triumphantly at the others. “That’s a real actor’s song.”

Danny had to think for a moment to think of the song he meant. Billy’s big number from “Carousel?” He leaned over the bar and stage whispered to Joe, “This is a straight bar, isn’t it?”

Joe was shaking his head as he dried a mug. “Enough to make you wonder, sometimes, the way these guys go on about the shows, in’nit? But if you want to give them a song, Dave, I can get the band over there to quiet down. They’re due for a break soon anyway. They usually go to canned music then, but I’m sure they’ll let you use their mike if you want.”

“Nah, won’t need it,” Danny assured him, a cocky glint in his eye. “But let me get this next round to soften the guys up just in case I’m not as good as I think I am...” That got the round of chuckles he’d been aiming for. “Then as soon as the band takes their break, I’ll hit ‘em with my best shot as Billy, the carnival barker.”

“Sound planning,” Joe agreed, and started drawing the beers as the trio of men slapped Danny on the back and some good-natured teasing commenced, half of it aimed at Danny, the rest bouncing amongst themselves fairly evenly.

“Don’t you even want to use the keyboard?” Tom asked. “Or should we tell folks to be quiet?”

Danny smiled, letting his dimples show. Times like this, he knew how Luke felt when he stood up in front of people for the first time and they got to see how really tall he was. There were the times it was just fun to sing for people for the first time and they got wide-eyed as they heard his voice. All he said to Tom, however, was, “I’ll be fine. This is a good choice, actually, Tom, for showing if a singer can act. I’ve used it as an audition piece.” He had, and had played Billy his junior year of college, so it was a very familiar song, even if it hadn’t come to his mind right away when named by Tom, since he hadn’t expected it to be named correctly by an old geezer in a bar. Yet it was ideal for showing off, and for appearing very manly, he thought, with some amusement. Billy Bigelow, the romanticized wife beater of the American theater. He waited for the band to stop playing and in the brief lull before the noise of the crowd picked up, Danny let his strong voice expand to fill the room.

Standing easily, in his leather jacket and black jeans, he sang the song of young Billy Bigelow, the carnival barker, and his dreams for his unborn child.

I wonder what he'll think of me
I guess he'll call me the "old man"
I guess he'll think I can lick
Ev'ry other feller's father
Well, I can!
I bet that he'll turn out to be
The spittin' image of his dad
But he'll have more common sense
Than his puddin-headed father ever had
I'll teach him to wrestle
And dive through a wave

As Danny sang, the surrounding people turned to listen. He slipped off his jacket as he progressed into it, telling of the things he’d teach his son, how to wrestle, and dive through a wave, his son who’d be tall and tough like a tree, and he moved around energetically, using the area in front of the band’s stage to good effect to give emphasis to the words without over-doing it.

When we go in the mornin's for our swim
His mother can teach him
The way to behave
But she won't make a sissy out o' him
Not him! Not my boy! Not Bill! Bill... My boy Bill
I will see that he is named after me, I will.
My boy, Bill! He'll be tall And tough as a tree, will Bill!
Like a tree he'll grow
With his head held high
And his feet planted firm on the ground
And you won't see nobody dare to try
To boss or toss him around!
No pot-bellied, baggy-eyed bully
Will boss him around...

By the time he wanted to take his volume back down for a mood shift, the entire room was quiet and focused on him.

Hey, why am I talkin' on like this?
My kid ain't even been born, yet!
I can see him when he's seventeen or so,
And startin' to go with a girl
I can give him lots of pointers, very sound
On the way to get 'round any girl
I can tell him ...
Wait a minute!
Could it be?
What the hell!
What if he is a girl?
What would I do with her?
What could I do for her?
A bum with no money!
You can have fun with a son

But you gotta be a father to a girl
She mightn't be so bad at that
A kid with ribbons in her hair!
A kind o' sweet and petite
Little tin-type of her mother!
What a pair!

My little girl
Pink and white
As peaches and cream is she
My little girl
Is half again as bright
As girls are meant to be!
Dozens of boys pursue her
Many a likely lad does what he can to woo her
From her faithful dad
She has a few Pink and white young fellers of two or three
But my little girl
Gets hungry ev'ry night and she comes home to me!

There were smiles and nods in the audience as Danny sang his starry-eyed vision of life with his daughter, and even gruff Joe behind the bar could be seen looking over at two pretty young girls who were avidly watching the young singer. As Tom would say, Danny had captured them all in a suspension of belief, and he was, at that moment, Billy Bigelow, expecting his first child. Soliloquy was a long song, with many mood shifts, humor, bravado and more than a touch of pathos, and Danny was hitting them all beautifully as he sang it in this New England bar, for working class people who weren’t all that different from the type of people who lived in the fishing village of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s play. This was especially true as he sang the final prophetic lines.

I-I got to get ready before she comes!
I got to make certain that she
Won't be dragged up in slums
With a lot o' bums like me
She's got to be sheltered
In a fair hand dressed
In the best that money can buy!
I never knew how to get money,
But, I'll try, I'll try! I'll try!
I'll go out and make it or steal it
Or take it or die!

Danny finished with his head down, fists clenched. There was complete silence, and then the pub erupted with loud applause. Danny raised his head and smiled, his big, double dimpled smile, and nodded his head in acknowledgment.

“Thank you,” he said simply, before trying to head back to Joe’s bar.

“Dad, who in the world is that gorgeous guy?” A pretty red-haired girl who’d been waiting tables from the other, larger bar came rushing over to Joe as Danny was crowded by people blocking him from returning to the smaller bar. “Why didn’t you introduce me and how’d you get him to sing?”

"Forget all that, Vicki. How’d Dad get him to take off his jacket and can we get him to take off that shirt too?” Her older sister came sauntering over from her post near the hostess station.

“Do you keep a hose around here, Joe? Your girls might need some cooling off!” Ray cackled.

Joe shot Ray a dirty look but addressed his comment to his daughters. “He’s a nice boy from down Pittsburgh way, up here with that touring company from New York. Don’t you girls start giving him a hard time.”

“I think what Veronica was thinking is that she’d like him to give her a hard time, Daddy dearest, judging purely on the look of those arms, and that chest and...”

“Is that any way for good girls to be talking?” Ed tried to sound shocked.

“Well done, young man, well done...let me buy you a drink, if Joe isn’t going to offer you one on the house after that entertainment!” Tom approached them with Danny by his side. Compliments were still following him from other patrons of the bar as he passed.

“Hey, David, great job on that. And I have another Guinness all ready for him even without the hint, Tom. Dave, these here are my girls, Veronica, the oldest, and Vicki here is my redhead. Both dying to meet you.”

Danny spent another half hour flirting with the girls and chatting with the people who came up to talk music and plays with him, drinking beer and generally having fun. At Vicki’s request he got up and sang a song with the band when they returned, a Meatloaf cover which really got the room going. It reminded him of his head banging days with his high school band. They used to play at the pub sometimes for spending money, good times. In a way, the whole evening made him homesick for O’Keefe’s Pub–something he didn’t think he’d ever feel. Hanging out, listening to the old guys argue and flirting with the college girls. He glanced at the clock on the wall and realized he should have moved on to another bar ages ago. At this point, he’d have to hurry to make it to “Iniquity” in time to meet up with Etienne, and he hadn’t hit any other places. He shrugged mentally. He’d made a good impression here at least.

He said his good-byes and headed for the door. Time to shed David Luke and get into the mental mind set for the Dark Angel. He walked out into the cool June night.

“So, you done playing it straight for now?”

Danny turned quickly at the sound of the harsh voice coming from the dark next to the doorway.

“Who’s there?”

“Right here, faggot. Need a light?”

Suddenly a bright light was shining in Danny’s eyes. He moved back a few steps, putting a hand up to shield his eyes from the glare.

“What the fuck are you playing at? Who are you?”

“I don’t like queers. Especially not queers who pretend to be straight.”

The voice was a strange one. Danny still couldn’t see properly and debated going back into the bar. But it was getting late and he didn’t want to miss meeting Etienne nor did he want to miss seeing Luke when he arrived. This must just be part of the trouble Turner had stirred up, he thought, and considered moving on, keeping to the street side of the sidewalk. Then he reconsidered. No sense turning his back on this. He turned around.

“You don’t like queers, huh? Well, I’m queer. What are you going to do about it?” Danny spoke in a low, measured voice as he moved backward so his back was against the wall of the building next door, and the enemy in front of him. His eyes were adjusting, especially with the light from the bar in front of him now.

“You admit it then?” The voice sounded less sure of itself now that Danny had altered the script on it.

“Yeah, cocksucker, I do. Come out and see what I do to people who don’t like queers.” Danny pulled out his switchblade and opened it, the sound of the blade flicking out seeming ominously loud in the otherwise silent night. Danny smiled, knowing it would intimidate his antagonist even more. He left his hair tied back since it was a liability in a close fight, something Redraven, his brother Luke’s Native American friend had taught him years ago. There was a good reason for Indians braiding their hair.

“You’ve got a knife!” The man in the shadows sounded betrayed. Danny laughed, making the sound as wicked as he could.

“Yeah, they don’t make fairies like they used to. Come on, I thought you wanted to teach me a lesson, hard guy. Let’s get to it. I have places to go, people to fuck.” All he could see of his would be attacker was a darker shadow in the shadows, crouching behind some trash cans, very apropos, he thought, but he wasn’t particularly interested in going into the alley to drag the man out.

“Not interested in conversing anymore? Don’t want to show me how much you don’t like queers anymore? I’m crushed. Get the fuck out of here and don’t bother me again. Got it?”

Danny made a motion as though he were going to go after the man and there was a quick scrabbling as the creature hurried off down the alley. Danny laughed after him. He snapped his switchblade closed and put it back in his jacket pocket. The incident left a bad taste in his mouth despite its ultimately harmless nature. He wondered what caused it. Was it simply some crackpot’s twisted idea of harassment or was it part of Turner’s on-going campaign against the people he saw as responsible for his professional embarrassment? While Sam was the one who had replaced him, he’d made no secret of the fact that he blamed Danny for helping Sam overcome his reluctance to return to the stage.

Danny was still frowning in thought when he reached “Iniquity” at ten-thirty. He pulled the tie from his hair and shook it loose as he slipped the leather jacket from his shoulders. Show-time, he thought, mirthlessly, his mood lowered by the exchange outside Joe’s bar. He walked past the line of people waiting to enter and went directly up to the bouncer, who was responsible for deciding who got inside, and when.

Danny simply looked at the tall, broadly built man guarding the door and raised an eyebrow. The man gave him the once-over...slowly. Danny smiled and gave him an appraising look back. The man was at least six foot six and probably weighed three hundred pounds, most of which was solid muscle. Since he was sitting on a stool, Danny was able to lean forward and whisper in his ear in his best “fuck me” voice:

“I’d show you mine if you’d show me yours, but we’d have a riot on our hands out here if the peasants in line got a glimpse of either of us...instead, why don’t you hunt me down inside when you get your break?”

The big man chuckled, a big basso profundo sound that made Danny hope he actually did hunt him down later, since he really was fond of deep voices.

“I just might do that, you cocky bastard. Go on in. You don’t look like you’re packing anything that doesn’t grow on you, those pants are too tight to hide anything that isn’t you, but what is you is plenty, isn’t it?”

“You’re kind to notice,” Danny told him and moved quickly inside to avoid the large hand that tried to squeeze his ass. He also wanted to avoid the metal detecting wand that the big bouncer didn’t think to move over his jacket. Something about being a pretty faced white boy made bouncers think he’d never carry a knife. Luke had told him this would be so and he’d never found it to be wrong yet.

Once inside, he stood by the doorway for a few minutes and let his eyes adjust. He saw soon enough that the club was typical of a type that catered to people who liked to think themselves “bad” as opposed to what he considered to be the genuine thing. He twisted his mouth briefly. With Angel, he’d learned to tell the difference, and it was a lesson he could have done without learning. Satisfied that this club was merely playing at being bad, he moved forward gracefully, looking for his friends.

“Hello, handsome, are you looking for someone?” A tall man in black leather stood in Danny’s path and prevented him from moving by pressing him against a pillar. The room was crowded and Danny found that he couldn’t easily step around the man without jostling the people drinking to his left or risk bumping into the dancers to his right. He sighed inwardly but his outer expression was the suitable intense grace that was characteristic of the Dark Angel on the prowl.

Danny smiled slowly as he reached up and caressed the man’s face gently.

“I am looking for someone...for several someones, cher. But you are not quite the flavor I’m in the mood for at this moment. You are too...ordinary. Please move from my path. Or I shall move you.”

Danny’s other hand had moved to the man’s wrist, and he applied pressure in a way that George had shown him, which was quite effective. Since the man had been so ill-advised as to place that hand on Danny’s hip, he really deserved it, Danny reasoned, as he watched the color drain from the man’s face. He released the wrist willingly enough as the man pulled away and stepped out of his way.

Danny tossed his hair back and continued on his way, seemingly impervious to the stares he was attracting as he made his graceful way across the floor.

Etienne watched him approaching from a platform on the second level of the club and realized that he had no chance of winning his bet. Already, almost every eye was turning to watch Danny as he walked through the lower level. It was like watching a stranger, Etienne realized, instead of his David. This man who was moving through “Iniquity” truly was someone different. He was this creature they called the Dark Angel, he realized. It was more than just the black clothes. He held his shoulders differently, his stride was longer and he cocked his head differently. Etienne watched as he started dancing with a woman, and if he hadn’t known it was Danny, he would have sworn that the man was completely heterosexual, so erotic was their dancing together. Except...within a few minutes he drew a man into their dance and the three of them moved together so sensuously that most others in the area stopped dancing in order to watch them.

Etienne swallowed deeply from the glass in his hand, although he wasn’t quite sure what he was drinking. Danny had shed his jacket and shirt and was now writhing on the dance floor between two other bodies, both of them as scantily clad as he was, the woman in a backless halter dress that barely covered her breasts and came down mere millimeters below her crotch. She was in front of Danny, with his hands moving all along her body, while a well-muscled man danced behind him, grinding his groin against his firm ass. Etienne felt his cock swell as he watched the trio.

“So, what do you think of the Dark Angel?” Pete Jensen came to a spot right next to him by the railing overlooking the dance floor and nudged him. “Quite a sight, isn’t he? Wonder if he’ll fuck right there on the dance floor?”

Etienne was careful not to let his surprise show. “Is that what you are hoping for, Pete? A chance to see David in action?”

“Not David, or even Danny, Lanier. It’s the Dark Angel who’s hot to watch,” Jensen corrected him. “I’ve seen the show before but you haven’t. I’m curious to see how you react to this aspect of your sweet young innocent David, who’s not all that sweet or innocent, and come to think of it, he’s not really David now, is he?” Pete laughed at his own little joke while Etienne smiled tightly.

“Why do you act the way you do, Pete? Do I annoy you in some way?” Etienne kept his tone level, his expression calm but inwardly he was seething. He would love to take this smug little man outside and knock some respect into him. He was so much like many he’d dealt with at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, with their petty attitudes and their narrow-minded clinging to outdated modes. Not all were like that, of course, and it was to those free thinkers and innovators on the faculty and among his classmates that Etienne gravitated. As for the rest, he ignored them and they soon learned to stay out of his way as well.

Jensen looked at him, his amused look still in place. “You don’t annoy me, Lanier, you entertain me. Like a train wreck that is about to happen entertains me. You and O’Keefe and Simon. A strange triangle, wouldn’t you agree? Especially when you add in his sister, then you really have a weird geometric shape, no longer a triangle but certainly not a square either. And where do we put the split personality that is Danny O’Keefe? He plays at being David Luke for you, serious actor, yet Danny O’Keefe is a dancer, and then there’s Angel O’Keefe’s baby brother, the Dark Angel, who’s rutting on the dance floor down there with two people, male and female, a quintessential Dark Angel performance if I’ve ever seen one...check them out now.”

Etienne turned back to look. Danny was still in his jeans, which were riding low but still on, he was glad to see. The young woman was bare breasted and wearing just a thong that barely covered her crotch. A young black man was now behind Danny and he was similarly attired, wearing a small thong that covered his cock but not much else. His gleaming dark body drew Danny’s back against his chest as Danny’s hands caressed the young woman’s breasts and bent her backward over his arm so he could kiss her deeply while his neck was being kissed by the man behind him– all while they kept moving in time to the music.

“One must admire their sense of rhythm,” Etienne calmly noted, taking a drink from his glass. He’d be damned if he let Jensen think he was bothered by the dance.

“So, you admire the kid’s dancing?” Pete asked skeptically. “If he proceeds to fuck half the men and women in the place, it won’t bother you at all?”

Etienne smiled wolfishly. “Well, I did tell him to try to flirt with flare. Which means he should refrain from hurting the feelings of so many. If he can’t fuck everyone who wants to be fucked, he has no business fucking anyone. But, I am by no means convinced he can’t manage to fuck everyone...he is very fit you know.”

Pete looked at him for a moment as though he didn’t quite believe him, but then he smiled. “Let me buy you a drink, Lanier. You’re all right, you know that?”

“Yes, actually, I do. But I will take a rain check on the drink, thank you anyway. I have some dancing to do. Excuse me.”

Etienne nodded and headed towards the stairs, smiling his greetings to other cast members as he saw them. Several appeared to be watching the dance floor as avidly as he and Jensen had. He wondered if Danny was down to his thong yet–and if he was wearing one.

Approaching the trio of dancers who held the room in thrall, he saw that another man looked ready to cut in on the thong clad dancer who was beginning to flag, while Danny and a new girl, this one in a pair of short shorts and a bra, were going strong.

Etienne cut the other man off, using his greater height to intimidate.

“Pardon, my turn,” he told the shorter man, shouldering him aside with a smile, and a Gallic shrug. The man smiled back at him and returned to the bar. Ah, the benefits of an accent, Etienne thought, as he slipped his arms around the familiar waist and bent to kiss his lover’s neck.

“The Dark Angel, I presume?” he whispered, nuzzling the tender spot behind the ear he whispered into.

Danny bent back his head to give better access to his neck, resting it on Etienne’s broad shoulder. He eased his female partner away slightly.

“Hmm, finally, a shoulder high enough to rest against and a cock I can trust not to make my pants wet...I can trust you not to stain my pants, can’t I?” That voice was sexy enough to challenge a man’s control, Etienne thought, but decided not to mention the fact and give Danny any more reasons to feel conceited.

“I believe I can contain myself,” he drawled, pulling the slender body closer. “Do you always dance with two partners at once?” He rubbed his face against the thick hair and watched the young woman rut against Danny’s front. He felt his laughter in reply more than he heard it since the music was so loud. Danny bent forward and said something to the young woman then. Whatever he said, it must have been a marvel of diplomacy because she laughed and with a parting wiggle against him went off to find another partner, leaving Danny free to turn and wrap his arms around Etienne.

“I thought we had to be straight tonight...or at least bi?” he asked as he moved against Etienne’s body. “I’ve been very good about being...bi-sexual.” He looked up at Etienne with darkly seductive eyes. “I wouldn’t want to ruin your fine marketing plans.”

“You can even things out by dancing with two women at one time later,” Etienne told him dryly. “Although I suspect your menage a trois style of dancing is causing enough of a publicity stir that people will come out to see you no matter what you do for the rest of the night.”

“I want to go home and fuck,” Danny told him.

“What a coincidence.” Etienne pulled him closer. “You are the center of attention, you know.”

“I know,” Danny acknowledged baldly. “I could stay longer and dance with more women if you want me to.”

“It isn’t necessary. You won the bet the minute you walked in the door, I suspect. You are beautiful...but you know that too, don’t you?”

“I like that you think so. I like how you look, you know that, don’t you?” Danny smiled at him, and there was no trace of Dark Angel to his smile. Etienne was fascinated, it was like a mask dropping for a second, then in a flash it was up again.

“Ready to leave...I have plans for you.” The sultry smile was back.

A shiver passed over his skin. Etienne kept his cool facade up. “Certainly. Let us get your shirt and jacket...someone told me the evenings get chilly here still.”

Danny laughed. He kept his arm around Etienne as they walked off the dance floor. As it was, they were an hour leaving by the time they made the rounds of their friends. Danny was charmingly flirtatious to the women he met, as promised, and gave no indication of being eager to leave with Etienne, although Etienne could tell that he was past ready to go.

Finally they were heading outside. Danny stopped to chat a few minutes to the big bouncer while Etienne waited for him on the sidewalk.

“What was that about, David? Making friends?” Etienne was proud that his voice sounded casual. At least, he thought it did. In keeping with their image for the evening they walked along without holding hands, a couple feet of space between them.

“I asked him to keep an eye out for my brother and his friends. Oh, I forgot to tell you, Luke is coming to town to visit! Isn’t that great? He was going to try to make it tonight but might not get here until tomorrow...well, today at this point. I told Bruce the doorman what he looks like in case he still arrives, to tell him we left.”

“He will know him if he sees him?”

“Luke is the one who is six nine, Eti, of course he’ll know him if he sees him,” Danny laughed. “Plus his best buddy is going to be with him, and Red is six seven, they kind of stand out, you know?”

Etienne imagined they would. He smiled to see the excitement on Danny’s face as he anticipated seeing his brother. A thought occurred to him. “Would you have danced like that if your older brother were in the club?”

Danny glanced at him. “Sure, why not?” He raised an eyebrow. “Were you embarrassed by my dancing, Eti? You, a Frenchman? That was mild! You should have seen...”

He cut off what he was about to say as four dark forms appeared in the walkway ahead of them.

“Eti, get behind me,” Danny said quietly. They stopped where they were and considered the group in front of them.

“You must be kidding,” Etienne told him. “They have bats, David. What do you plan on doing, whatever it is, either we both do it, or we both get the fuck out of here. I vote for B.” Etienne switched to speaking in French, thinking that it didn’t hurt to keep their opponents in the dark as to their plans, reasoning that men who attacked other men with bats at night were unlikely to speak more than one language.

“I’m a black belt in karate, Etienne, you aren’t, let me fight them and you go back to the bouncer at the club for help. Plus I have a knife. I can keep them busy long enough for you to get away. Please, you go.”

“Bullshit! There are four of them, hero, or can’t you count? You use karate and give me your knife. I grew up in the streets of Paris, that should even the score a bit. I won’t leave you, so no argument. Let’s see what they want, maybe this is just to scare us.”

“Gentlemen, can we help you or have you lost your way to the batting cages?” Danny asked politely, causing Etienne to roll his eyes. Danny looked at him and grinned, even as he reached over and punched his hand. As he did so, he slipped him his switchblade. Etienne palmed it quickly, slipping it up his sleeve.

“Funny, Luke, you’re funny. You were told earlier that we don’t like faggots around here but you didn’t listen, did you? Tried to play the tough guy, didn’t you? Even pulled a knife, we hear. We’re going to make you sorry you did that, real sorry. Going to cut off all your faggot hair, and maybe do a little more cutting, how’s that sound? You and your big boyfriend...you disgusting perverts.”

“Same old, same old,” Danny told him. “You folks need some new rhetoric, you know that? It gets so that it’s boring to be harassed by you redneck assholes.”

The men rushed forward then, two on one. Danny focused on taking the bats from them, and tried kicking the first two men down so he could get to the other two and take away their bats as well, before Etienne got hurt. He was able to take out the first man easily enough and was fighting the second man when he heard Etienne go down to a solid hit from one of the men attacking him. Frantic to get to him he disarmed his second opponent and forcefully threw the man over his head, slamming him to the pavement.

Turning, he was barely in time to stop the third man from slamming his bat into the fallen Etienne’s head, while he ducked a blow from the fourth man that was aimed at his own head. The two remaining men grinned as they walked toward him, standing protectively over Etienne’s unconscious body. He was looking around desperately for some weapon, something he could use against the two of them when he heard a sound he hadn’t heard in almost ten years – a war whoop.

As his attackers turned to listen, perplexed, Danny cupped his hands to his mouth and let out an answering whoop–one that signaled the need for help–immediately.

Within seconds, a gunshot whistled over the heads of the men holding the bats on Danny. No sooner had the echo of the shot died away than a lazy voice came out of the dark: “Drop those bats now or you’re dead men. Wasn’t like I missed hitting you, you know, intended to go over your heads that time...next time I’ll intend to hit your nose...don’t really care which one of you I hit, but you will, I suppose.”

The bats clattered to the ground loudly. Danny grinned in relief but it was short-lived as he turned and kneeled to check on Etienne.

“Ah, don’t you go near that boy, if you take one step closer to him I’ll shoot off your pecker...and small as it doubtless is, I’m such a good shot I still won’t miss. Now you two boys move away from my boy and over towards that wall real slow like.”

Danny lifted his head. “I know you’re having fun, but if my brother is there with you could he please come help me here? Eti’s hurt bad. Stop playing with that scum and come help.” His voice broke a bit, to his embarrassment. He always tried to be tough for his brother Luke and his friends, but Etienne was bleeding and unconscious and he was scared, damn it.

He felt arms around him even though he hadn’t heard Luke approach.

“I’m here, baby brother. George is here too.” To Danny’s relieved surprise, George appeared next to him and was opening a medical bag. Danny leaned back against Luke. He was shaking with reaction.

“What happened, Danny?” Luke’s voice was calming. Danny felt a flask at his lips and took a swig. Whiskey. Like mother’s milk, he thought, slightly hysterical, but after a moment, he felt its calming effect, and he noticed he wasn’t shaking any longer.

“We were jumped by those men. It was stupid...they...they did it because we’re gay, for fuck’s sake. This isn’t a homophobic town. It’s in Connecticut, nobody here has issues with gays. For fuck’s sake, it happened twice tonight, Luke! The first time it was a joke, the guy was pathetic. I practically said boo to him and he ran away. But, he came back with friends and bats. So I guess the joke was on me. But it still makes no sense. And they hurt Eti.”

“Well, little one, you hurt them too,” Red announced with satisfaction. “Got a guy over here with a broken arm, and another one who’s knocked out, so you done good. Your big guy would have been okay, but it looks like he tripped on that rock there and once he went down, they went for him but good. You get one of us big guys down, we’re useless.”

“I think your friend’s primary injury is the blow to his head from the fall, Danny, which will probably be a concussion. And he sustained several blows from the bats, most notably one to his arm that will be very sore. Other than that, he is going to be fine once he regains consciousness, which should be soon. Some water would help. How are you?” George looked at me with concern.

“I’m fine,” Danny insisted.

“I think he’s in shock,” Luke told him. “Do you have anything you can give him?”

“I don’t need any pills, I just need these clowns dealt with and Etienne to be okay, and...George! How did you get here? Edward isn’t here, is he?” Danny looked at him suspiciously. “He didn’t...these guys aren't his bright idea, are they?”

Luke looked at George closely as the fair haired man calmly put his stethoscope and other implements back into his bag. He looked up finally and it was Luke’s gaze that he returned, looking steadily into that pair of green eyes.

“I suggest that you call the local police, Luke. I am confident that Edward had nothing to do with these gentlemen. But...if he did, you and Steven will be best able to uncover that fact, don’t you think? However, it would be very unlike Edward to do anything that would be likely to cause Danny injury and when we arrived it appeared highly unlikely that those men were going to stop at harming Danny’s friend. A baseball bat to Danny’s head? Marring his looks? Please! Edward would sooner listen to country music.”

Danny snickered. “Actually, they said they were going to cut my hair off, that definitely rules out Edward. He loves my hair. But speaking of country music. I have made an enemy of sorts here. The former Valjean in the show, country music star Jeff Turner, was released from his contract and my friend Sam has taken over the part. Turner blames me, as opposed to the fact that he sucked. He may have hired them.”

George got up and walked over to the men, who were being loosely guarded by Redraven. Etienne was starting to come around so Danny moved closer, lifting his head onto his lap. Thus he missed the beginning of George’s questioning, turning only when he heard one of the men scream. Luke moved to block his view.

“You really would rather not watch,” Luke told him, smiling.

“But, that’s George,” Danny said, confused.

“Yeah, kind of a kicker, isn’t it? Man of many talents, that George. But, you really can trust him. If it weren’t for his connection to Simon, he’d be the best of fellows.”

“How did he get here tonight?” Danny asked, wondering how his brother ended up in the same company with Edward’s right hand man.

“We needed a way here tonight and Angel volunteered him. Strange relationship they have, those two. I was just as glad to separate them,” Luke explained glibly. At least, it seemed glib, but Etienne moaned just then and Danny’s attention was taken up with him. By the time Etienne regained consciousness fully, the police had arrived and Danny forgot all about questioning Luke further. George had secured a confession from their attackers, who had indeed been hired by Jeff Turner to harass Danny and Etienne, but had taken their task a bit further than planned when they met unexpected opposition from the “fairies.” Turner was found to have left town and couldn’t be questioned, but Red assured Danny and Etienne that he would be located. His home base was in New Orleans, which was Redraven’s home base as well.

For now, the soldiers informed the actors, they had two weeks leave and intended to spend them visiting their favorite actor.

“We can enjoy getting to know your little friend too,” Luke announced with a big smile.

“Sure...we’ll even teach the little guy how not to pass out during a fight if you want, Danny,” Red offered with an even bigger grin as he sat in their living room and cleaned his gun.

“I shall look forward to it,” Etienne assured him, as he wondered how he managed to fall in love with the only man in the world with friends and family who had the temerity to call him little. but who didn’t dare call his much smaller lover little for fear of his temper?

“Will you two be staying here at the bed and breakfast? I’ll talk to the landlady tomorrow for you if you want, but for tonight you can have our bed.” Danny rubbed his face tiredly.

Luke smirked at the dismayed look on Etienne’s face. “Nah, that’s okay, but thanks for the offer. Mama would be proud of you for your manners, brat. We booked hotel rooms for tonight. We just wanted to make sure the two of you were okay. George went ahead and made sure the rooms are reserved. He’s not flying back yet. He said he’ll check on Etienne again tomorrow for you. You get some sleep. I’m so glad I let Red let loose with that whoop tonight after all. I’d been afraid he’d disturb the neighborhood but when we missed you at that club by a few minutes, he was sure he could make you hear him. Thank God, huh?”

Danny got up and walked over to give his big brother a hug and then Steve one. “Thank you, both. I love you.” He kissed each of them, to Etienne’s surprise, since they were each such butch, manly men. But they both returned the hug and the kiss, although the kiss was given to Danny’s brow, in a fatherly way. He caught Luke watching him as he watched Danny with Steven Redraven, and the older man gave him a quizzical look. He looked back sheepishly. Sometimes he looked into things too much, he realized.

“He’s known Danny since he was seven,” Luke told him quietly, reading his mind. “You’ve nothing to worry about in that quarter, friend.”

“I realized as much,” Etienne agreed. “It is hard, sometimes.”

“I imagine most of the time. But, if you want to make him happy, you’d better find a way to make it easier. Or you’ll be unhappy and that will make him unhappy.”

Etienne nodded thoughtfully. Good advice. Thinking back to the club and the experience of watching the Dark Angel dancing, he wondered how much of that was Danny. Not all of it, by any means, but enough of Danny was in the Dark Angel, or rather, enough Dark Angel was in Danny, that anyone who loved Danny would have to embrace that aspect of him too to be happy in the long run. It was an exciting thought, but a daunting one too.

Etienne wondered if he was strong enough to do that. For tonight, his head ached too much to think about it for too long. Luke looked at him sympathetically.

“Red, it’s late and these boys are tired. Let’s go so they can get some sleep. We can talk more tomorrow. Time enough then to practice fighting. Etienne has a lot to learn, I suspect, to keep up with our boy. And we’ll teach Danny some new tricks too.”

“I did disarm two of them, and was working on the third!” Danny protested.

“Two out of three’s not bad but two out of four sucks,” Red pronounced as he headed for the door.

“Tomorrow, Red, tomorrow. Bye kids, hope the head’s better tomorrow, Etienne, nice meeting you, love you, Danny,” Luke called, pushing his buddy out as he pulled the door closed behind him.

“Whew,” Danny said as he made sure the door was locked. He turned and walked back over to Etienne, settling down on his lap and resting his head on his shoulder. “We should get up and go to bed.”

“Mm hmm.” Etienne leaned back and closed his eyes. He could see images of those bats swinging, but it was Danny they were going for in his mind’s eye, not him. He tightened his arms around the body in his lap.

“Etienne, I was terrified for you tonight,” Danny whispered.

“I felt the same for you,” he whispered back.

“You mean a lot to me.”

“You too.”

Danny sighed deeply. “We should go to bed.”

“Soon.”

They stayed like that on the sofa, holding each other tight in the dark as their breathing slowed into the regularity of sleep.