SN WIP: Homophobic - Part Three
Apr. 21st, 2004 02:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
out_thereSitting on reception, I can't work on my stuff, I can't make phone calls, and every time I sit down to think something through, I have to answer the phone.
Hence, I typed up fic instead. Since it was already hand-written, it didn't matter if I kept getting interrupted every three minutes. (Yes, it's a tiny part compared to the others, but I'm sticking to my policy of not writing anything that makes me save it at work.)
***
Casey let Charlie choose the movie and ended up sitting through some kid's film with talking animals. He wondered why the animals always talked. What was it about talking creatures that sparked a child's imagination? Casey had never seen the appeal of it.
Shifting on the too-small seat, Casey tuned out the cheery voices and though about Milo and Otis. When Charlie had been five, it had been his favourite film. Casey could remember a lot of warm Dallas afternoons with Charlie curled up on his lap, watching that film over and over. Now, Casey couldn't even remember which one was the dog.
Back then, he'd had weekends off; a stretch of sixty hours a week to spend with Charlie and Lisa. And just as often as not Dan, who seemed to drop in on a semi-regular basis.
Casey grinned, remembering a Sunday afternoon years ago, when Dan had dropped by yet again. At that stage, Casey knew the movie so well he could almost hear Dudley Moore's voice in his sleep, so when Charlie asked to watch it again, he almost groaned aloud.
Dan had caught Casey's look of annoyance, and diverted Charlie's attention by asking about the tape. Dan did what he always did; squatted down to Charlie's eye level and spoke to Charlie like an equal. For that alone, Casey would have been Dan's friend.
Charlie had watched Dan seriously and solemnly explained that Milo and Otis was the best movie in the whole world.
Dan had winked at Casey, and asked Charlie just as seriously if Charlie was sure that Milo and Otis was better than Superman. Charlie nodded and went to get the cover. He proudly gave it to Dan, and Dan made quite a show of looking at it carefully. Casey could still remember the way that Dan had nodded and said, "I'll have to take your word for it, Charles. I don't think I've watched this."
It wasn't the first time Casey had looked at Dan and Charlie and thought that Danny was going to make a wonderful father some day. Then, Dan had turned to him and asked, "Can we watch it, Casey?"
Dan had smiled happily and Charlie had been almost bouncing with excitement, so Casey had had no choice. He'd nodded and set up the VCR, trying not to be too sour about this film swallowing another ninety minutes of his life. He hit play, and had been about to sit down on the couch when Dan stretched his legs along it. "Sorry, Casey. You can't watch," Dan decreed, mock-seriously.
"Why not?"
"You always spoil the endings of films. I haven't seen this before. I want to sit down and enjoy this with Charlie." Dan's eyes had twinkled as he added, "Why don't you go read the paper?"
Casey has always loved sitting down and reading the Sunday paper from front to back, but back then, it had been more of a guilty pleasure. He loved Charlie dearly, but it was impossible to read a paper and look after a five year old kid.
"Will you guys be okay?" The question was for Dan, but he directed it to Charlie.
Charlie sat up straight, his 'big boy' pose as Lisa called it and said, "We'll be fine, Dad."
"Okay," Casey had said and ruffled a hand through Charlie's soft hair.
"Yeah, we'll be fine," Dan added with a grin and Casey ruffled his hair for the hell of it. The gel in Dan's hair made it stand up at odd angles, and Dan smoothed it back down with a grimace. Charlie had laughed with the unrestrained joy of a small child.
***
The door to Dan's apartment building had never seemed so uninviting. Casey shifted his weight on his feet, standing on the shadowed doorstep. He glowered at the buzzer as if the button itself would bite. Spending yesterday knowing he shouldn't talk to Dan had made it drag, and had made him wonder if they'd pushed the friendship too far. A lot of friendships had broken up over lesser fights, Casey was sure.
Casey thought he might have been wrong about not bringing a peace offering. He could always go find a bakery and turn up at Danny's with breakfast. That might increase the chance of Dan letting him up. On the other hand, if Dan was really mad, pastry wouldn't change his mood.
Taking a deep breath, Casey pressed the buzzer and then heard that hiss of static of Dan answering. The words dissolved on his tongue, and the electrical susurrus seemed impossible to break.
Dan sighed through the static and then spoke. "Come on up, Casey."
"Thanks." He spent the elevator ride rehearsing his apology, but couldn't work out anything beyond 'I'm sorry'.
When Dan answered the door, Casey was expecting him to have just got out of bed. Instead, Dan was up and dressed, looking wide awake in jeans and a very baggy, burgundy sweatshirt. Dan looked like a kid who'd grabbed his big brother's top by mistake.
"Come in," Dan said, but the sweatshirt told Casey far more than Dan's careful tone. Dan dressed according to mood. There was a reason why Dan always wore a sweatshirt when his Dad came to visit. Dan would say it was because his father wasn't the type tof guy to be impressed by a slick suit. But it wasn't a co-incidence that Dan wore loose sweatshirts whenever he felt uncertain. It was an extra layer of defence; the bigger and baggier, the better.
Dan dropped his keys on the bench and his hand was almost covered by the over-long sleeve. "I was about to go out."
Casey closed the door behind him. "Can you postpone it?"
"I was about to go over to your place," Dan said, absentmindedly running a finger along the counter top.
Casey watched Dan's hand just a second too long before replying, "Yeah?"
"Yeah. I was going to force you to let me in."
Casey grinned at the mental image of Dan breaking a door down. "How were you going to do that?"
Dan looked at him guardedly. "Your spare key."
"Ah." Casey nodded, looking around Dan's messy but clean apartment. As always, Dan's couch was bare and ready for Dan to stretch out on, but the armchair sitting beside it was stacked with magazines, opened mail and loose bits of newspapers. Dan tended to wait until the pile grew to the height of the armrests and then sacrificed an afternoon to clearing it out.
"Do you want a coffee?" Dan asked, walking around the counter.
"Sure." Casey wandered over to the other side, watching Dan fiddle with the percolator. The silence felt like a separate entity, looking over his shoulder. It was so palpable that Casey was almost surprised that Dan only poured out two cups.
Dan served it strong and slightly bitter, just the way Casey liked it. "It's good."
"Thanks." Dan almost looked surprised, but he shouldn't have been. Dan has always made a great cup of coffee. Casey rolled the flavour over his tongue, thinking about it. Apart from Dave, and Lisa, Dan's sill with a coffee-machine was unsurpassed. "Talk."
Casey looked up from his cup. "Huh?"
"You came here to talk, so talk," Dan said, adding milk until his coffee was a warm caramel color.
Casey swallowed another mouthful, playing for time. He still had no idea what to say. Normally, he planned this things in advance, prepared a suitable speech. If he had something important to say, he preferred to have it already worked out. He made less mistakes that way.
Of course, that had never worked with Lisa. Or with Dana.
Or with Dan.
"I'm sorry?" Casey hazarded.
"I said you came her to talk," Dan repeated with a small frustrated sigh. "So talk."
Casey shook his head. "No, I mean, I'm sorry. For Monday." Dan kept watching him. "For what I said."
"Did you mean it?"
"What?"
"I know you're sorry that you said it, but did you mean it?" Dan asked his coffee cup mildly.
"No. Well... some of it." Casey frowned and shifted his arms on the counter. "I don't want another partner."
"Good." Dan smiled for the first time that morning, and it made Casey feel like a rat to realise he'd caused Dan's uncertainty. But the sense of shame was still mixed with anger. He never would have got upset enough to say that it Dan hadn't lied to him. "I'm still pretty angry, though."
"Cas-" Dan stopped himself with a grimace, and bowed his head. "Why?"
"You lied to me. You lied right to my face." Not that how he'd lied made a difference. "I though you trusted me."
"I didn't lie to you, Casey," Dan said slowly.
"Dann-" Casey started, but waited when Dan held his hand up.
"At the time, when I told you that, I hadn't slept with any guys since college." Dan paused. "If I didn't trust you, I would have made up some story about a leggy blonde and a night of great heterosexual sex."
Casey blinked, thinking about that. Dan was right. If he hadn't wanted Casey to know, he could have lied. Casey would have believed him. "I didn't think of that."
"I figured." Dan's teasing grin was a little stretched.
"I just... I thought you'd lied."
"I didn't." Dan picked up their empty cups and dumped them in the sink. "That's the one lousy thing I didn't do."
"It was still a stupid thing to do."
Dan spun around a little too quickly. "You're going to lecture me on not letting my sex life affect my career?"
"Danny..." Casey started gently.
"Because you're really not qualified to present 'Keeping Sex out of the Workplace 101.'" Dan glared at him, and clenched his jaw, clearly trying not to say anything more insulting.
"...Can't I just be worried about you?" Casey refused to look away, refused to break eye contact. Dan wasn't the only one who could use pleading puppy-dog eyes to his advantage. Dan breathed deeply, and caved under the McCall gaze.
Danny sighed and walked around the counter, standing beside Casey. "Of course you can." They were both leaning forward, staring at Dan's fridge. It wasn't the most scenic view for patching over a fight, but it was comforting. It was familiar, to stand side by side with Danny, shoulders almost touching.
After a while, Casey said, "I still don't see why you did it." His tone sounded surprisingly snide.
"There's a couple things you've got to get straight," Dan said firmly, turning to Casey. "I slept with an old flame. I am not the first, only or last person to do so. Regardless of what you may personally believe about the world's moral and sexual codes, it actually happens pretty often."
"And?" Casey prompted and Dan raised an eyebrow at him. "You said 'a couple of things'. I assume there's a second point?"
"And you've got to stop talking about 'it' as if I'm shooting up cocaine. It's sex, Casey. It's not fatal or destructive behaviour."
"It's not good for you," Casey stated confidently.
"Regardless of what you've been told," Dan said, his eyes tense. "Regardless of what you've been taught about 'stranger danger' and not getting into cars with dirty old men, I'm not taking my life into my hands by sleeping with some guy." Dan huffed out a breath and pushed himself away from the counter. "It's no more dangerous than going home with some woman from a bar."
Casey let that thought rattle around his brain, thinking about it as Dan watched him out of the corner of his eye. "That's still pretty dangerous." Dan was wearing that flat, smooth smile that meant Dan was freaking out about this and trying hard not to let it show. "After all, you slept with Bobbi Bernstein."
Dan barked out a surprised laugh. "I never claimed I had taste."
Casey snickered and that seemed to be that. Dan stretched and then pulled the sweatshirt over his head. "Do you want to head into the office?" Dan asked as he pitched the top at the chair of junk.
Casey watched it land on the top of the pile, and then glanced at his watch. "No."
"No?"
"No."
Dan blinked at him. "Why not?"
"We don't have to be in until twelve."
"So?"
"So coming in early will set a bad precedent. People will start to expect us in at eleven."
Dan sniggered. "I'd believe that if I didn't know you, Casey. You love the place so much you're in before twelve most days."
Casey shrugged and tried a different tactic. "What would I do in the office for an extra hour and a half?"
"You'd do the same thing you do for the rest of the day," Dan said, sitting down on his couch. Apparently, they weren't going anywhere. "Sit around and wait for somebody to give you something to do."
Casey rolled his eyes, but didn't give Dan the satisfaction of a reply. He sat down beside Dan, perfectly content to wast the extra time talking. Useless conversations were highly underrated.
Dan settled back into the couch. "Why don't you want to go in?"
"It could be awkward." Casey shrugged.
"Why?"
"Dana and I Talked yesterday."
"Talked?" Dan gave him a bemused glance. "You just pronounced that with a capital, didn't you?"
Casey grinned. After working with someone for five years, you started to hear their pronounciation. Or started to understand their idiosyncrasies. One or the other. "It was a big talk."
"A big talk?"
"A huge talk," Casey confirmed.
"Huge?"
"Monumental, even."
Dan grinned conspiratorially, leaning forward. "Did it, perchance, end in a kiss?"
"No." Casey frowned for a second, and then asked, "Why would you think that?"
Dan stretched back on the couch. "Last time you described a conversation with Dana as a monumental Talk, note the capital T," Dan specified with a smirk, "the conversation ended in a kiss."
"There was no kissing."
"Will there be kissing?"
Casey shook an imaginary ball in his hand, and then peered down at it carefully. "The magic eight-ball says 'highly doubtful.'"
"So, there's no time limit attached?" Dan asked with a teasing grin.
"What?"
"This isn't, like, a ten week kissing plan, right?"
Casey paused for a second, letting the horror of that suggestion sink in. "No. There were no plans of any sort. There was, however, an agreement. We made an arrangement."
Dan watched Casey carefully, and stretched an arm along the back of the couch. "An arrangement?"
Casey nodded. "An arrangement."
"What type of arrangement?"
"A dating arrangement."
Dan made a face. "Please say it doesn't involve time limits."
Casey laughed at Dan's obvious concern. He was touched, too, but he was mostly amused. "It doesn't involve time limits. It is an arrangement, implemented immediately, that will continue for the foreseeable and not-so-foreseeable future."
"Casey, put me out of my misery," Dan said pleadingly. "What was the arrangement?"
"We're not dating."
Dan squinted at him. "You two had to arrange to not-date?"
Casey rolled his eyes. "It's an important decision, Dan."
"I would have thought it was the default decision." Dan waved his hand dismissively. "Unless you're currently dating, you are, by extension, not dating. It shouldn't be something you need to discuss to make sure that you're not."
"No, we agreed that we weren't going to date."
Dan blinked and froze for a second. "Seriously?"
Casey nodded. "Seriously."
"Like, ever?"
"We've decided we're not good for each other. We're officially off-limits." Casey thought about what he said, and then added, "For each other. We can date other people, just not each other."
Dan looked off to the side, and then said softly, "Wow."
"Yeah."
"The you and Dana thing's been going on for as long as I've known you, Casey." Dan turned to him with a concerned expression. "You sure you guys can do this?"
"We came to an agreement. We have an arrangement."
"Yeah, but..." Dan paused, picking at the armrest. "It's one thing to tell yourself that someone's off-limits. It can be a lot harder to convince your heart of that."
"We can do this, Dan. We are capable, intelligent people," Casey said, and hoped that Dan agreed. Because Casey was pretty sure, he was almost certain, but... Dana and Casey had been wrong about stuff like this before. Dan *could* be right. And when it came to this type of stuff, Dan frequently was. "Aren't we?"
Dan beamed and nodded. "Yeah, you are." Casey grinned back, warmed by Dan's confidence in him. Dan grinned at him, and then said wonderingly, "That's kind of..."
"What?"
Dan smirked. "Monumental."
"I told you."
***
Hence, I typed up fic instead. Since it was already hand-written, it didn't matter if I kept getting interrupted every three minutes. (Yes, it's a tiny part compared to the others, but I'm sticking to my policy of not writing anything that makes me save it at work.)
***
Casey let Charlie choose the movie and ended up sitting through some kid's film with talking animals. He wondered why the animals always talked. What was it about talking creatures that sparked a child's imagination? Casey had never seen the appeal of it.
Shifting on the too-small seat, Casey tuned out the cheery voices and though about Milo and Otis. When Charlie had been five, it had been his favourite film. Casey could remember a lot of warm Dallas afternoons with Charlie curled up on his lap, watching that film over and over. Now, Casey couldn't even remember which one was the dog.
Back then, he'd had weekends off; a stretch of sixty hours a week to spend with Charlie and Lisa. And just as often as not Dan, who seemed to drop in on a semi-regular basis.
Casey grinned, remembering a Sunday afternoon years ago, when Dan had dropped by yet again. At that stage, Casey knew the movie so well he could almost hear Dudley Moore's voice in his sleep, so when Charlie asked to watch it again, he almost groaned aloud.
Dan had caught Casey's look of annoyance, and diverted Charlie's attention by asking about the tape. Dan did what he always did; squatted down to Charlie's eye level and spoke to Charlie like an equal. For that alone, Casey would have been Dan's friend.
Charlie had watched Dan seriously and solemnly explained that Milo and Otis was the best movie in the whole world.
Dan had winked at Casey, and asked Charlie just as seriously if Charlie was sure that Milo and Otis was better than Superman. Charlie nodded and went to get the cover. He proudly gave it to Dan, and Dan made quite a show of looking at it carefully. Casey could still remember the way that Dan had nodded and said, "I'll have to take your word for it, Charles. I don't think I've watched this."
It wasn't the first time Casey had looked at Dan and Charlie and thought that Danny was going to make a wonderful father some day. Then, Dan had turned to him and asked, "Can we watch it, Casey?"
Dan had smiled happily and Charlie had been almost bouncing with excitement, so Casey had had no choice. He'd nodded and set up the VCR, trying not to be too sour about this film swallowing another ninety minutes of his life. He hit play, and had been about to sit down on the couch when Dan stretched his legs along it. "Sorry, Casey. You can't watch," Dan decreed, mock-seriously.
"Why not?"
"You always spoil the endings of films. I haven't seen this before. I want to sit down and enjoy this with Charlie." Dan's eyes had twinkled as he added, "Why don't you go read the paper?"
Casey has always loved sitting down and reading the Sunday paper from front to back, but back then, it had been more of a guilty pleasure. He loved Charlie dearly, but it was impossible to read a paper and look after a five year old kid.
"Will you guys be okay?" The question was for Dan, but he directed it to Charlie.
Charlie sat up straight, his 'big boy' pose as Lisa called it and said, "We'll be fine, Dad."
"Okay," Casey had said and ruffled a hand through Charlie's soft hair.
"Yeah, we'll be fine," Dan added with a grin and Casey ruffled his hair for the hell of it. The gel in Dan's hair made it stand up at odd angles, and Dan smoothed it back down with a grimace. Charlie had laughed with the unrestrained joy of a small child.
***
The door to Dan's apartment building had never seemed so uninviting. Casey shifted his weight on his feet, standing on the shadowed doorstep. He glowered at the buzzer as if the button itself would bite. Spending yesterday knowing he shouldn't talk to Dan had made it drag, and had made him wonder if they'd pushed the friendship too far. A lot of friendships had broken up over lesser fights, Casey was sure.
Casey thought he might have been wrong about not bringing a peace offering. He could always go find a bakery and turn up at Danny's with breakfast. That might increase the chance of Dan letting him up. On the other hand, if Dan was really mad, pastry wouldn't change his mood.
Taking a deep breath, Casey pressed the buzzer and then heard that hiss of static of Dan answering. The words dissolved on his tongue, and the electrical susurrus seemed impossible to break.
Dan sighed through the static and then spoke. "Come on up, Casey."
"Thanks." He spent the elevator ride rehearsing his apology, but couldn't work out anything beyond 'I'm sorry'.
When Dan answered the door, Casey was expecting him to have just got out of bed. Instead, Dan was up and dressed, looking wide awake in jeans and a very baggy, burgundy sweatshirt. Dan looked like a kid who'd grabbed his big brother's top by mistake.
"Come in," Dan said, but the sweatshirt told Casey far more than Dan's careful tone. Dan dressed according to mood. There was a reason why Dan always wore a sweatshirt when his Dad came to visit. Dan would say it was because his father wasn't the type tof guy to be impressed by a slick suit. But it wasn't a co-incidence that Dan wore loose sweatshirts whenever he felt uncertain. It was an extra layer of defence; the bigger and baggier, the better.
Dan dropped his keys on the bench and his hand was almost covered by the over-long sleeve. "I was about to go out."
Casey closed the door behind him. "Can you postpone it?"
"I was about to go over to your place," Dan said, absentmindedly running a finger along the counter top.
Casey watched Dan's hand just a second too long before replying, "Yeah?"
"Yeah. I was going to force you to let me in."
Casey grinned at the mental image of Dan breaking a door down. "How were you going to do that?"
Dan looked at him guardedly. "Your spare key."
"Ah." Casey nodded, looking around Dan's messy but clean apartment. As always, Dan's couch was bare and ready for Dan to stretch out on, but the armchair sitting beside it was stacked with magazines, opened mail and loose bits of newspapers. Dan tended to wait until the pile grew to the height of the armrests and then sacrificed an afternoon to clearing it out.
"Do you want a coffee?" Dan asked, walking around the counter.
"Sure." Casey wandered over to the other side, watching Dan fiddle with the percolator. The silence felt like a separate entity, looking over his shoulder. It was so palpable that Casey was almost surprised that Dan only poured out two cups.
Dan served it strong and slightly bitter, just the way Casey liked it. "It's good."
"Thanks." Dan almost looked surprised, but he shouldn't have been. Dan has always made a great cup of coffee. Casey rolled the flavour over his tongue, thinking about it. Apart from Dave, and Lisa, Dan's sill with a coffee-machine was unsurpassed. "Talk."
Casey looked up from his cup. "Huh?"
"You came here to talk, so talk," Dan said, adding milk until his coffee was a warm caramel color.
Casey swallowed another mouthful, playing for time. He still had no idea what to say. Normally, he planned this things in advance, prepared a suitable speech. If he had something important to say, he preferred to have it already worked out. He made less mistakes that way.
Of course, that had never worked with Lisa. Or with Dana.
Or with Dan.
"I'm sorry?" Casey hazarded.
"I said you came her to talk," Dan repeated with a small frustrated sigh. "So talk."
Casey shook his head. "No, I mean, I'm sorry. For Monday." Dan kept watching him. "For what I said."
"Did you mean it?"
"What?"
"I know you're sorry that you said it, but did you mean it?" Dan asked his coffee cup mildly.
"No. Well... some of it." Casey frowned and shifted his arms on the counter. "I don't want another partner."
"Good." Dan smiled for the first time that morning, and it made Casey feel like a rat to realise he'd caused Dan's uncertainty. But the sense of shame was still mixed with anger. He never would have got upset enough to say that it Dan hadn't lied to him. "I'm still pretty angry, though."
"Cas-" Dan stopped himself with a grimace, and bowed his head. "Why?"
"You lied to me. You lied right to my face." Not that how he'd lied made a difference. "I though you trusted me."
"I didn't lie to you, Casey," Dan said slowly.
"Dann-" Casey started, but waited when Dan held his hand up.
"At the time, when I told you that, I hadn't slept with any guys since college." Dan paused. "If I didn't trust you, I would have made up some story about a leggy blonde and a night of great heterosexual sex."
Casey blinked, thinking about that. Dan was right. If he hadn't wanted Casey to know, he could have lied. Casey would have believed him. "I didn't think of that."
"I figured." Dan's teasing grin was a little stretched.
"I just... I thought you'd lied."
"I didn't." Dan picked up their empty cups and dumped them in the sink. "That's the one lousy thing I didn't do."
"It was still a stupid thing to do."
Dan spun around a little too quickly. "You're going to lecture me on not letting my sex life affect my career?"
"Danny..." Casey started gently.
"Because you're really not qualified to present 'Keeping Sex out of the Workplace 101.'" Dan glared at him, and clenched his jaw, clearly trying not to say anything more insulting.
"...Can't I just be worried about you?" Casey refused to look away, refused to break eye contact. Dan wasn't the only one who could use pleading puppy-dog eyes to his advantage. Dan breathed deeply, and caved under the McCall gaze.
Danny sighed and walked around the counter, standing beside Casey. "Of course you can." They were both leaning forward, staring at Dan's fridge. It wasn't the most scenic view for patching over a fight, but it was comforting. It was familiar, to stand side by side with Danny, shoulders almost touching.
After a while, Casey said, "I still don't see why you did it." His tone sounded surprisingly snide.
"There's a couple things you've got to get straight," Dan said firmly, turning to Casey. "I slept with an old flame. I am not the first, only or last person to do so. Regardless of what you may personally believe about the world's moral and sexual codes, it actually happens pretty often."
"And?" Casey prompted and Dan raised an eyebrow at him. "You said 'a couple of things'. I assume there's a second point?"
"And you've got to stop talking about 'it' as if I'm shooting up cocaine. It's sex, Casey. It's not fatal or destructive behaviour."
"It's not good for you," Casey stated confidently.
"Regardless of what you've been told," Dan said, his eyes tense. "Regardless of what you've been taught about 'stranger danger' and not getting into cars with dirty old men, I'm not taking my life into my hands by sleeping with some guy." Dan huffed out a breath and pushed himself away from the counter. "It's no more dangerous than going home with some woman from a bar."
Casey let that thought rattle around his brain, thinking about it as Dan watched him out of the corner of his eye. "That's still pretty dangerous." Dan was wearing that flat, smooth smile that meant Dan was freaking out about this and trying hard not to let it show. "After all, you slept with Bobbi Bernstein."
Dan barked out a surprised laugh. "I never claimed I had taste."
Casey snickered and that seemed to be that. Dan stretched and then pulled the sweatshirt over his head. "Do you want to head into the office?" Dan asked as he pitched the top at the chair of junk.
Casey watched it land on the top of the pile, and then glanced at his watch. "No."
"No?"
"No."
Dan blinked at him. "Why not?"
"We don't have to be in until twelve."
"So?"
"So coming in early will set a bad precedent. People will start to expect us in at eleven."
Dan sniggered. "I'd believe that if I didn't know you, Casey. You love the place so much you're in before twelve most days."
Casey shrugged and tried a different tactic. "What would I do in the office for an extra hour and a half?"
"You'd do the same thing you do for the rest of the day," Dan said, sitting down on his couch. Apparently, they weren't going anywhere. "Sit around and wait for somebody to give you something to do."
Casey rolled his eyes, but didn't give Dan the satisfaction of a reply. He sat down beside Dan, perfectly content to wast the extra time talking. Useless conversations were highly underrated.
Dan settled back into the couch. "Why don't you want to go in?"
"It could be awkward." Casey shrugged.
"Why?"
"Dana and I Talked yesterday."
"Talked?" Dan gave him a bemused glance. "You just pronounced that with a capital, didn't you?"
Casey grinned. After working with someone for five years, you started to hear their pronounciation. Or started to understand their idiosyncrasies. One or the other. "It was a big talk."
"A big talk?"
"A huge talk," Casey confirmed.
"Huge?"
"Monumental, even."
Dan grinned conspiratorially, leaning forward. "Did it, perchance, end in a kiss?"
"No." Casey frowned for a second, and then asked, "Why would you think that?"
Dan stretched back on the couch. "Last time you described a conversation with Dana as a monumental Talk, note the capital T," Dan specified with a smirk, "the conversation ended in a kiss."
"There was no kissing."
"Will there be kissing?"
Casey shook an imaginary ball in his hand, and then peered down at it carefully. "The magic eight-ball says 'highly doubtful.'"
"So, there's no time limit attached?" Dan asked with a teasing grin.
"What?"
"This isn't, like, a ten week kissing plan, right?"
Casey paused for a second, letting the horror of that suggestion sink in. "No. There were no plans of any sort. There was, however, an agreement. We made an arrangement."
Dan watched Casey carefully, and stretched an arm along the back of the couch. "An arrangement?"
Casey nodded. "An arrangement."
"What type of arrangement?"
"A dating arrangement."
Dan made a face. "Please say it doesn't involve time limits."
Casey laughed at Dan's obvious concern. He was touched, too, but he was mostly amused. "It doesn't involve time limits. It is an arrangement, implemented immediately, that will continue for the foreseeable and not-so-foreseeable future."
"Casey, put me out of my misery," Dan said pleadingly. "What was the arrangement?"
"We're not dating."
Dan squinted at him. "You two had to arrange to not-date?"
Casey rolled his eyes. "It's an important decision, Dan."
"I would have thought it was the default decision." Dan waved his hand dismissively. "Unless you're currently dating, you are, by extension, not dating. It shouldn't be something you need to discuss to make sure that you're not."
"No, we agreed that we weren't going to date."
Dan blinked and froze for a second. "Seriously?"
Casey nodded. "Seriously."
"Like, ever?"
"We've decided we're not good for each other. We're officially off-limits." Casey thought about what he said, and then added, "For each other. We can date other people, just not each other."
Dan looked off to the side, and then said softly, "Wow."
"Yeah."
"The you and Dana thing's been going on for as long as I've known you, Casey." Dan turned to him with a concerned expression. "You sure you guys can do this?"
"We came to an agreement. We have an arrangement."
"Yeah, but..." Dan paused, picking at the armrest. "It's one thing to tell yourself that someone's off-limits. It can be a lot harder to convince your heart of that."
"We can do this, Dan. We are capable, intelligent people," Casey said, and hoped that Dan agreed. Because Casey was pretty sure, he was almost certain, but... Dana and Casey had been wrong about stuff like this before. Dan *could* be right. And when it came to this type of stuff, Dan frequently was. "Aren't we?"
Dan beamed and nodded. "Yeah, you are." Casey grinned back, warmed by Dan's confidence in him. Dan grinned at him, and then said wonderingly, "That's kind of..."
"What?"
Dan smirked. "Monumental."
"I told you."
***
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2004-04-21 12:05 am (UTC)Aw, poor Danny!
Still loving this [g]
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Date: 2004-04-21 12:12 am (UTC)Yeah, I'm subtle as a brick (well, as a brick wall falling on your head).
Still loving this [g]
Thanks, Caroline. It's getting there, slowly, but surely.
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Date: 2004-04-21 01:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-21 01:51 pm (UTC)*pokes story ideas*
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Date: 2004-04-21 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-21 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-21 12:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-21 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-21 02:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-21 03:58 pm (UTC)Bwahahahahaa! *is thoroughly amused*
I'm becoming obsessed with this fic. I keep getting snatches of scenes, but they're all out of order (I have to write in order, otherwise it takes me forever to go back and fix). *sigh* I don't want to work. I want to sit with a computer all day and write this fic (except for the fact that when I have a computer all day, like on the weekends, I tend to stuff around something shocking. *g*)
But, yes, I need to write more about college-Michael, I need to write Casey's birthday, and getting drunk on Jagermeister, I need to write the olympics, and... and I have more vague ideas about the next bit, but don't have the ending. (Which is a good thing, once I have the fic totally plotted, I lose interest in writing. It's like... walking by keeping your head down so you only see the few foot ahead of you, because if you looked up the entire road would be too long.)
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Date: 2004-04-21 04:19 pm (UTC)I want to hear about College Danny, if you happen to be heading in that direction. And the Jaegermeister. Whatever that is. (There are whole chunks of Sports Night where they might as well be speaking a foreign language. And not just every time they actually mention sport.)
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Date: 2004-04-21 10:13 pm (UTC)I *so* do that. At the moment, I'm just thinking of little bits, and then writing them down as soon as I can (at the moment, I spend 7.40am-8.20am writing, and 1.30pm-2pm writing over lunch, and then the forty minute train ride home writing, there aren't too many hours in between for my mind to write and forget). On the other hand, as long as I don't plot *all*, I'm still intrigued/motivated enough to write it.
I want to hear about College Danny, if you happen to be heading in that direction.
And, just because you're special, you get a preview:
***
[casey's asked about why Dan and Michael split up in college]
"Tell me," Casey said gently.
"Are you sure this isn't..." Dan trailed off uncertainly. "Are sure it's not going to weird you out?"
"I asked, didn't I?"
Dan scowled. "That doesn't mean you really want to hear the answer."
"I think I can handle it." Casey sighed.
Dan watched him carefully, leaning back on the couch. "Sure?"
"Well, I'm currently thinking of Michael as a Rebecca-alike who doesn't look as good in a dress, but I'm pretty sure."
Dan laughed. "Okay. I... I really liked him."
Casey snorted and put his legs up on the coffee table. "I'm assuming you must have."
"The thing you've got to get is that I *really* liked him." Dan looked down at his hands as he stressed the words. "I really liked him."
"You were serious about him?" Casey asked softly.
"Yeah." Dan swallowed. "I..."
"Really liked him," Casey finished for him and Dan nodded. "How long... were you seeing him?"
"A bit over five months."
"That's pretty long for you in college," Casey said, thinking aloud. "I can remember most girls didn't last more than a couple weeks."
"I really liked him." Dan spoke quietly, as if admitting a secret. Casey suddenly wondered if Dan had ever told anyone else. He didn't want to ask.
"So that would have been, what? Your Junior year?" Casey asked, and Dan nodded. That had also been the year that Dan had been reconsidering his study choices, debating over whether he should focus more on print journalism than television.
"Yeah," Dan said, and then fell silent, obviously lost in his own thoughts.
"You know," Casey said slowly, "I don't see the appeal."
"The appeal of what?"
"Of Michael."
"Well, that's probably why you've never slept with him," Dan responded with a quick grin.
"Even if the sex was great, I couldn't put up with someone that... smarmy."
"Smarmy?"
Casey nodded. "He's like Gordon, with the lwayer bits taken out." Dan's eyes bulged in surprise and Casey felt a little guilty. "Should I stop criticising your ex-" Casey had no idea what to call it, so he used Dan's word, "-flame now?"
Dan blinked and then said, "Feel free to dislike him."
"Good."
"Good?"
"Because I do. Dislike him," Casey clarified. "He's smarmy and slimey, he made you nervous at the bar and he kept you waiting. Then, he just rail-roaded you into leaving," Casey finished. "I didn't like him at all."
"Huh." Dan smirked. "Who would have thought you'd have good taste in guys."
Casey laughed. "Great lot of help that is to me."
[Screw it. I've gotta go work. Everytime I start writing these guys, they keep *talking*.]
***
Fingers crossed I remember where I posted this snippet.
And the Jaegermeister. Whatever that is.
Alcamahol! See my post for further details. *g*
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Date: 2004-04-21 11:27 pm (UTC)Casey laughed. "Great lot of help that is to me."
Dan looked up at the ceiling, obviously thinking about it. "On the other hand, you like Shane Pickering [name may be wrong] and I have it on good authority that he's a twit."
"I *know*." Casey grimaced. "Jeremy has told me many, many times."
"He's right."
"Can we leave Shane Pickering's twit-status alone?"
"Sure." Dan nodded. "After all, I wasn't the one bragging about him asking me out."
Casey groaned. Dan wasn't going to let him forget that, and Danny hadn't even been there at the time. "Let's go back to the topic of Michael's ex-status."
***
[Gotta go again]
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Date: 2004-04-23 07:12 am (UTC)Snippets! Excellent!!
I love Danny getting stuck on "... really liked him." Bless!
Shane isn't Pickering, but now I can't think what he was. Mc-something, I think. McAndrew, McArthy, McAllister, I have no idea, do I ...
Dying to know where this conversation's heading. Once characters start talking, you never can tell. (I like it when they tell you their backstory, and you're just sitting there typing, going "Oh, really?" and "Fancy that!")
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Date: 2004-04-25 03:46 pm (UTC)Hee! Yes, I have that all the time with SN. Not the background, so much as the banter. I know the background and where it's headed, but then they start snarking each other and I just sit back and go along for the ride.
?I'm very proud of my Special status. Unless, of course, the next word was 'Needs'
*laughs* No, it was just plain ol' "special". *g*
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Date: 2004-04-23 12:51 am (UTC)"Talked?" Dan gave him a bemused glance. "You just pronounced that with a capital, didn't you?"
Yep, sometimes you really can just hear the capital letters!
I love the way that this particular Talk went, too: the specific tension within the context of their previously completely comfortable friendship.
Wanted to ask whether you were aware of the Australian Center for the Moving Image's "Lounge Critic" program on The West Wing. 6 May at ACMI (Fed Square). Thought it was something you might be interested in.
http://www.acmi.net.au/C08BEB5BD8754466B5C0D9CC2797D6CE.jsp
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Date: 2004-04-25 03:57 pm (UTC)"...seperate the men from the Men."
"The men from the men?"
"The second men had a capital."
*giggles*
I love the way that this particular Talk went, too: the specific tension within the context of their previously completely comfortable friendship.
Thank you. I think that conversation's a little bit wish-fulfillment on my part. As much as Dana and Casey have great on-screen chemistry (and they do, if they can get a die-hard slasher like me cheering for them to kiss), I don't think it's actually a good relationship. And, I like the idea of Casey getting his head straight; he feels like the kind of guy who needs a bit of resolution on an old relationship before starting a new one.
Wanted to ask whether you were aware of the Australian Center for the Moving Image's "Lounge Critic" program on The West Wing. 6 May at ACMI (Fed Square). Thought it was something you might be interested in.
*squeals* Oh, I forgot about that! Let's see, that's a ... Thursday. *drops head to desk*
I have class (6.30-9.30pm) on Thursday nights. Otherwise, I'd be there with bells on.
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Date: 2004-09-29 04:50 am (UTC)Your writing really seems to suit Sports Night. I like the intelligent & articulate dialogue:
"There's a couple things you've got to get straight," Dan said firmly, turning to Casey. "I slept with an old flame. I am not the first, only or last person to do so. Regardless of what you may personally believe about the world's moral and sexual codes, it actually happens pretty often."
"And you've got to stop talking about 'it' as if I'm shooting up cocaine. It's sex, Casey. It's not fatal or destructive behaviour."
"I would have thought it was the default decision." Dan waved his hand dismissively. "Unless you're currently dating, you are, by extension, not dating. It shouldn't be something you need to discuss to make sure that you're not."
Maybe you're planning to change them in the final version, but I'm enjoying reading fanfic with Australian spellings for once!
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Date: 2004-09-30 03:25 am (UTC)I can just imagine dan having fun playing "Uncle Danny". Of course, I also have a strong suspicion that Danny's closer to Charlie than he is to his *actual* nephews/neices. But that is a rant for another fic. *g*
Your writing really seems to suit Sports Night. I like the intelligent & articulate dialogue
Thank you! *beams*
To be honest, SN is a fandom that suits me in a way that I've never experienced before. I've written more in SN than all my earlier fandoms (WW, SV, BtVS/AtS) combined. It's something about those ridiculously chatty boys that appeals to the inner-rambler in me. *g*
Maybe you're planning to change them in the final version, but I'm enjoying reading fanfic with Australian spellings for once!
Yeah, they'll end up being americanised, but sometimes it's nice to read colour spelt correctly!