beautifulandnew | (no subject)

(no subject)

Part of me thought there might have been a possibility that 'takeout and crafts' had taken on a new meaning. Perhaps it was code now, a less hip version of 'Netflix and chill'. Much, much less hip, considering the source.

Once inside Danny's apartment, however, it quickly became pretty clear that there was no hidden meaning. There was takeout and there was crafting paraphernalia.

It's been a week and I'm no less confused now than I was then. Maybe even a bit more so right now, sitting here, neither of us having actually acknowledged what had happened. Is he expecting me to play along? Eat and drink and cut construction paper and never speak of it? Is that what he plans to do? Or has he blocked it out? Did he have more to drink that night than I realized? Because there's a whole movement and hashtag now that I would potentially have to answer to.

Maybe agreeing to come was a bad idea. I'm not sure I'm prepared to pretend to deal with takeout and crafts if all it really is is takeout and crafts. I'm not sure I'm prepared to deal with the alternative either.

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Apparently Danny's best coping skill comes all the was from elementary school. This is the kind of thing they force kids who have been fighting in the schoolyard to do. It's a hug, not a magic wand.

"...all I feel is how damp your shirt is."

Danny finds Hedwig's lack of reciprocation strange. It had taken him a long time to realize Hedwig had a crush on him back in Darrow and since being back in New York, they've hung out tons. After last week, Danny was sort of expecting to be pounced on.

"Quit your complaining or I'll take it off."

"What is wrong with you?" I ask, twisting to pull myself out of his hold, balling up the blanket and tossing that at him if he still needs something to squeeze to make him feel better.

"You sit there and lay out a list of why this doesn't work because of what's wrong with me and then that?" It goes well beyond mixed signals. Even if it was a joke, how does now feel like the appropriate time? "You can look, but you can't have." Which is nothing new, least of all with regards to Danny, but that was before I had.

Danny drags the corner of the blanket off his head, revealing a look of contrition on his face.

"I'm sorry! Look, I'm, I realize how that sounded, really that was not cool, not cool," he insists, taking a step closer again. "It was very insensitive of--"

He suddenly drops the blanket and reaches both hands up to Hedwig's face.

Danny can't finish his apology when his mouth is busy kissing.

Danny being hot one minute and cold the next is enough to make my head spin. His lips suddenly against mine don't help. I still want to be annoyed at him, but I quickly decide that there's time for that later. It's probably only a matter of minuted before he's blowing cold once again.

I return the kiss, a hand braced against his chest. Why is he doing this? I'm not any more Catholic now than I was four minutes ago.

Danny hasn't really thought beyond the kiss. To be honest, he hadn't really thought before the kiss either, but here they are.

For a second he thinks the palm on his chest is there to push him away, so he instinctively deepens the kiss, shifting his hands to take a more determined hold of Hedwig's face. One thumb rubs minutely over a cheek.

Everything last week went by in such a blur, it all happened so quickly. Danny didn't have a chance to fully appreciate the simpler things like a kiss. The bubbling vulnerability he can feel lurking just beneath his skin is a strong reminder why he'd been okay with rushing through this part the first time.

"Seven," he murmurs, hoping this joke isn't as poorly timed. "I'm gonna need PT for the neckache I'm gonna get from kissing you from down here."

Is this actually happening? What are the chances that I've actually fallen asleep watching crab fishing? Or perhaps I succeed in impaling myself with that toothpick.

"How is that any different from number four?" I ask followed by another kiss. "Invest in a step stool."

"It's different," Danny gets out before Hedwig kisses him again, like he thinks that ought to be a satisfactory answer.

"A step stool? Don't those cost like thirty bucks?" Danny is definitely not ready for that level of commitment. At best he could maybe hire one on a trial basis, but would it even be worth it? The height difference is only an issue if they're both standing up.

He tilts his head and pulls Hedwig down by the jaw, slipping him the tongue. Danny might hate foreigners but he sure can't deny that the French know how to kiss.

And clearly they taught the Germans.

"That's a steal," I insist before he makes it more or less impossible to say much at all. It's probably for the best. Reminding him that others pay much more than that for me might not have been the wisest decision.

I move a hand to his back, fingers twisting into the fabric of his tshirt, the hand on his chest drift lower.

"So... about that coin collection of yours," I say quietly against his lips, biting down not so gently to make it clear I'm not actually interested in the coins.

The Ass Grab - it's a signature Daniel Alan Castellano move and he's proud of it. It's lucky he's an ass guy; this probably wouldn't be as interesting were he only into breasts.

"Oh yeah?" Hedwig might be the first person he's met who's as into biting as he is. Out comes the lopsided smile again, only this time it's more cocky. It appears at the same time that his hand executes his signature move with well honed finesse.

"If I thought your curiosity were genuine," he begins, stretching up to speak by Hedwig's ear, "I'd invite you to my bedroom to see it."

Edited 2019-11-02 00:17 (UTC)

And once again, the smile is charming. I would think so even without the hands currently on my ass.

"Knowing that it isn't at all genuine, a smarter man would invite me there more quickly," I counter, ducking to press a kiss to his neck before leaning back to look him in the eyes. "Are you a smart man?"

Danny likes to believe that he's the smartest man in any room. Given who his co-workers are, he'd say that's accurate.

He feels the intensity spike when Hedwig looks him in the eyes. Now would be a good time to pull the emergency brake if he's going to, but noone could look at Danny like that and expect him to back down from the challenge.

"Is the Pope," he replies, removing his hands and digging them into the hem of his t-shirt, then lifting his arms and contorting his torso to strip it off, "hiding something?"

"Aside from decades of sexual crimes against children?" Which I am still completely convinced Danny is one of. I shrug.

Head tilting, I take a moment just to enjoy the view. I still think three gym days are insane, but there's no denying that the work and dedication clearly pay off. Kicking the blanket out of the way, I place my palms against his skin, slowly moving down his chest, across his abs and stopping at his belt. Catching his mouth in another kiss and making deft work of undoing the buckle, using the end to coax him along to the bedroom.

"I blame the Boston Globe for tha.." The rest of Danny's defence of the Church gets swallowed up in the kiss and he wraps both hands quickly around Hedwig's neck to keep him close, mouths connected.

These are his favorite pair of pressed jeans so he goes along without resistance. Danny knows from experience that belt loops are never the same once they've been ripped off once. He only makes it a few steps though before he's dragging Hedwig back and finally letting go of his lips.

"My--" Okay, maybe one more kiss. "My Ma, she gave me that blanket." He can't do stuff in the bedroom if he knows it's out here on the floor. "I don't wanna be distracted in there," he explains, bending down to pick it up. He shakes it out and starts to fold it neatly.

"Since I'm doing this, I may as well..." He trails off, pointing loosely at his t-shirt on the floor too. The now-folded blanket gets tucked under his arm and he goes back down for the top. "I'll just-- hang on a sec. Oh boy, it's inside out. Two secs. Oh man, now the sleeve is stuck. This is a real puzzler."

Danny walking away does give me a moment to catch my breath, but it's hardly worth it.

"It's a shirt, not a Rubik's cube!" I snap, standing there with his belt in hand that had been pulled free when he decided now was a good time for chores. Is he going to fold all items of clothing as they come off? If so, I'm glad I decided to skip out underwear tonight. "Do you want to go put a load of laundry in the wash, too...?"

Heaven help him if he says yes.

There's little point in doing that, Danny thinks, since he's going to have to do a big load tomorrow for his bed sheets and pillow cases and a flannel or two flannels and if things go better than last time, some morning shower towels, the rug on his floor, potentially his couch cushion covers...

"Sorry." Danny finishes folding the t-shirt into a neat square, placing it on top of the blanket and putting both on the table beside them. Then he takes the belt from Hedwig's grasp and starts to roll one end up around a fist.

Instead of adding it to the pile though, Danny stops a third of the way and whips the loose end around the back of Hedwig's ass with a satisfying smack, grabbing the other end and securing it around his free hand. A rough tug brings Hedwig's body flush against his own, at which point it's made abundantly clear that what Danny is ready to do is not laundry.

At this point, disputing the existence of some higher power seems foolish, because surely it's only by the grace of said being that Danny's pants are still up without that belt. I wasn't even aware that they made jeans for men with a rise that low. It a perfect cut if you have a lower ab V to flaunt, which he does...

The sudden sting from the belt snaps me out of a daze and staring. Luckily, before I have a chance to blurt out something derogatory about the woman who gave birth to him as a knee-jerk reaction, I'm once again distracted by his jeans without even needing to look down at them.

"I thought you said you kept your collection in you room," I say, feigning confusion and slipping a hand between us to rub the front of his pants. "Keep a roll of Kennedy half dollars on you, do you?" I ask, pausing for a moment to reconsider, head tilting slightly. "Two rolls."

The directness of his own move is very quickly overshadowed by the - not unwelcome - boldness of Hedwig's. Danny doesn't fight his eyelids when they flutter shut; he's too focused on resisting the urge to press forward, his abdominal muscles flinching with the effort of keeping still.

"Kennedy half dollars are so blah," he dismisses half-heartedly. Danny might not want to relinquish the driving seat to Hedwig any time soon, but he figures he has a way to get what he wants without looking like he's asking for it. He pulls the belt tighter, forcing Hedwig's lower half even closer and happily resulting in an almost boastful flex of his biceps.

"A monkey could collect those." He snorts a little at his own observation, eyes reopening. "Which is really funny because they're worth peanuts."

What the hell do monkeys have to do with peanuts?

"Danny, Danny, Danny." I put a finger to his lips. "I understand where I went wrong and I think I've suffered enough for it. If you mention coins again I will hang myself with your mother's blanket." And after he's gone through all the the trouble of folding it, too.

I give him a look of warning before finally taking my finger away and replacing it with my lips. That hand free now, both move to unfasten is pant. I deepen the kiss as I push passed the layers of fabric, taking him in hand and giving a deliberate stroke.

Picturing his mother's trauma-filled face when he delivers the devastating news that her blanket has been forcibly taken into evidence by the police? So not the image Danny wants in his mind right now. And yet.

His hands roam their way up to Hedwig's shoulders as he returns a hungry kiss, belt dangling down his back. And then Hedwig's hand is somewhere new entirely and his mother's face is filled with fresh trauma.

"You have got to be kidding me," he gasps upon breaking the kiss. Quickly realising how that sounds, Danny balls a fist against his forehead and brings it down firmly on Hedwig's shoulder, head bowing to review the situation down south.

"That is, that is good." He lets out a breathy sigh. "That is really good." Dammit. "Okay. Gotta catch you up," he encourages, pinching at Hedwig's shirt by the shoulders.

It's hard to tell at first if he's in some kind of distress or enjoying himself. He doesn't move away or ask for it to stop, though, so it's a good a sign as any to continue for a bit longer.

When I do pull my hand back out, I smirk, taking a step away to pull my own shirt up and over my head. Tossing it aside, I turn and head towards the bedroom. "Do not pick that up," I warn over my shoulder, still a little annoyed and confused that it's something that even has to be said.

Hesitating a moment, hand hovering by the neck of the bottle, Danny eventually swipes Hedwig's beer from the counter before he moves, downing the last of it as he follows.

"That's pumpkin spice," he insists quietly to himself, unable to comprehend how anyone could compare it to a candle. He drops the empty bottle on the coffee table before he heads to the bedroom, not wanting to give the wrong impression by walking in there with it, not after the interrogation earlier.

Danny's got one sock off by the time he arrives, followed quickly by the other. He tosses the belt on the bed and comes up behind Hedwig, rubbing his hands up and down his bare arms and stepping closer to press a gentler kiss against the back of his shoulder.

Eyes slipping shut at the feel of his lips against my skin, I reach back and grip his waist, hips pushing back against his.

"Planning on using that?" I ask nodding at the belt. There were plenty of other places he could have thrown it. But he didn't.

For a moment, all of my earlier cockiness and assuredness is lost as I glance down at the clothing I have left. I don't actually know what, if anything, Danny managed to see last time. Things were more straight to the point last week, from what I remember.

Shaking the thoughts from my mind, I lead Danny forward by the waist of his pants. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, I press a kiss to his stomach, and another.

Danny didn't think he'd invited Hedwig over with the intention of ending up in here again, but maybe he had. Unconsciously. Either way, he couldn't have expected it to be like this.

It was much easier to stay out of his head when his hands and mouth were busy.

Watching, Danny's gaze drifts over Hedwig's shoulders, decorated with fading bite marks that he vividly remembers making.

"Did these hurt?" He drags his fingernails over them and starts a slow, controlled body roll from chest to waist, as if chasing Hedwig's kisses.

"A little," I admit. Not in a bad way. It was definitely plenty enjoyable at the time, which more than made up for any pain there might have been.

Tongue against his skin, I lick a trail straight up, then tilt my head to nip gently at his side. "Don't let that stop you."

Shifting, I knee my way up onto the mattress, wrapping a hand around the back of Danny's neck to bring him with me, mouth desperately seeking his out once again.