SN Fic (Unbeta'd): Soap Opera Cliche

[out_there]

storydivagirl is running a The Multifandom Soap Opera Cliche Challenge.

This was ust a bad plotbunny that wouldn't leave my head, but it ended up being 850 words. The rules are a minimum of 1000 words. I'm wondering if I should edit this and submit it as my entry, or write something else.



***

Casey stretched back on the bed, still panting for breath. He ran a hand through his sweaty hair, pushing it off his forehead, and didn't try to stop the smug grin on his face.

Danny nudged him with his shoulder. Casey raised an eyebrow, and noticed that Dan's eyes were still tightly shut. "Mmmm?"

Dan sighed, a sound of pure satisfaction. "Tell me a secret."

"A secret?"

"Uh-huh."

"What type of secret?"

"A secret I don't already know about you."

"Hmmm..." Casey lazily traced a hand down Dan's spine just to watch him shiver. "I think you know all my secrets."

"Yeah?" Dan sounded a little disappointed. "That makes you pretty boring, doesn't it?"

Casey rolled his eyes. "Well, I think you do."

"Really? There isn't some deep, dark skeleton in your closet?" Dan lifted his head off the pillow to stare at Casey. "What you see is what you get?"

"Pretty much." Casey paused. "Well, except for..."

"Yeah?"

"Forget it," Casey said quickly, knowing that would just make Danny more intrigued.

"What?"

"It's... I don't like to talk about it."

Dan wriggled closer, and rested his head on Casey's shoulder. "Does Dana know?"

"Why would that matter?"

"I'm just curious."

Casey sighed, wrapping an arm around Dan's waist. "No."

"Really?" Dan was clearly surprised.

"Look, I found out about it when I was a teenager. It's just... something I prefer not to think about."

"Casey," Dan said gently, snuggling up closer to him. "You could tell me. If you wanted."

"I'm..." Casey stared up at the ceiling. "I'm adopted."

"Whoa. I wasn't expecting that." Dan shifted back and sat up. "How come you never told me?"

"I don't like to talk about it." Casey sat up beside Dan, kicking the covers that got tangled around his legs.

"When did you find out?"

"I was fourteen when my parents told me." Casey grinned wryly. "I spent about six months playing the 'you're not my real parents' card, and then... I did a bit of research and..."

Danny's hand gave his a quick squeeze. "And?"

"And I found out some things." Casey shrugged. "I decided that my mom and dad raised me, and that was all that counted."

"Huh." Danny was quiet for a moment, and Casey waited for the inevitable question. "What did you find out?"

"Apparently, my... biological mother was married when she had me."

"But she didn't keep you?"

"Apparently, it was the result of an affair." Casey swallowed and looked down at Dan's fingers entwined with his. "She was scared that her husband would find out, so she had the baby and claimed it was stillborn. And..."

"Your parents adopted you," Danny finished quietly.

Casey nodded. "Well, that was what the hospital nurses said. I never actually spoke to her. I just... thought it would be too disruptive."

"Disruptive? Casey, you've got every right to ask her."

"She chose her family a long time ago. What would be the point of breaking that up, of showing up as proof...?"

Dan pressed a soft kiss against his cheek. "Sometimes, you're a little too noble for your own good, Case."

Casey shrugged. "I thought about it. In college. I tracked down her name, and..." He shook his head. "It just seemed like too much. Too cruel."

"What was her name?"

"Rosenberg."

"Really?" Dan blinked at him. "That's a pretty common surname. I mean, half my cousins are Rosenbergs."

"They thought that she used her maiden name. Her first name was Miriam."

"Miriam?" Danny repeated in a strangled tone. "Miriam Rosenburg?"

Casey nodded, keeping his expression blank. "Middle inital H."

Dan's eyes went wide. "As in Miriam Hannah Rosenburg?" Casey shrugged. Dan started to hyperventilate. "As in my mother's name?!"

Casey fought to stop his lips from twitching into a smile. "I don't know. Maybe?"

"That can't be a maybe, Casey. It *can't*. I cannot by lying in bed, naked, with someone who shares my blood." Danny looked horrified, his face turning paler by the second. "I just can't. This cannot be happening."

Casey nodded at him, struggling for control.

"Tell me this isn't happening!" Dan reached over and grabbed Casey by the shoulders. "This isn't happening!"

Casey burst out laughing.

"Okay, hysteria is a perfectly normal way to--" Dan stopped, mid-sentence and stared at Casey, who was laughing so hard tears were pouring down his cheeks. "You were *lying*," Dan accused darkly.

Casey nodded, laughing too hard to speak.

Dan's mouth was hanging open. "How could you let me believe...?"

"Bet I don't look so boring now," Casey managed.

"You bastard." Dan punched him, not too lightly, in the shoulder. Casey winced and stopped sniggering. Or tried to. "I can't believe you did that."

"I can't believe you fell for it." Dan's mouth opened and closed. "Come on, Danny, we look nothing alike. Not to mention the distance between New York and Minneapolis..."

Danny glared. "Oh, that's going to be nothing compared to the distance between you and me."

"Really?"

"Really."

"You're withholding sex?" Casey asked slowly. "As punishment for lying to you?"

"You'd better believe it."

"Man, you really are a woman," Casey said as he pulled Danny closer and pressed a loud, sloppy kiss to his forehead.

Dan narrowed his eyes. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, Casey."

Casey disolved into giggles.

***

Comments

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

I love the ending!

[out-there.livejournal.com]

*beams* Thank you! I was a little uncertain of how to end it, but Casey giggling is always amusing.

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

Stretch it out to 1k by having Danny's Evil Twin show up at the door, that's what I'd do.

*Claims Danny's Evil Twin for her own nefarious purposes and smuggles him home*

[celli]

*dies*

Oh, I love you. The image of Casey giggling like a dork is the one I'll take to work with me today.

*hugs*

[storydivagirl.livejournal.com]

It was this part that really did it for me:

"Man, you really are a woman," Casey said as he pulled Danny closer and pressed a loud, sloppy kiss to his forehead.

Dan narrowed his eyes. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, Casey."

Great. Loved it. You can use this as your soap opera piece if you want and if you find yourself motivated to do another (heh), you can as well. Either way, great piece.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

Great. Loved it. You can use this as your soap opera piece if you want and if you find yourself motivated to do another (heh), you can as well. Either way, great piece.

Yay! We have a fic submission. I mean, I'll polish it up and post it to inthetallgrass, but... basically, now this piece isn't mindless procrastination - now, it serves a purpose. *g*

[out-there.livejournal.com]

*hugs you back*

There's something totally adorable about our anchordorks giggling. Not manly, but adorable.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

I can't make them both twins. That'd just be *weird*.

(Um, working on a Casey twinfic at the moment. Hence, Danny's evil twin will have to wait for another author. I figured I'd just pad the extra hundred words with a bit of description, or if I'm stuck, start the fic a little earlier, and write the porn that tired Casey out. *g*)

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

Porn would work too.

It'd work much better than the Star Trek mirror universe Danny who just popped up at the back of my brain. Complete with uniform. Stop that right now, young man, that's just being silly!

[out-there.livejournal.com]

It'd work much better than the Star Trek mirror universe Danny who just popped up at the back of my brain.

But the important question is... Does he have a goatee? *dissolves into giggles*

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

How could he not?

[oxoniensis.livejournal.com]

Ha, Danny pushed just that bit too far with the accusations of being boring! I love the way Casey plays him!

[out-there.livejournal.com]

Ha, Danny pushed just that bit too far with the accusations of being boring! I love the way Casey plays him!

Danny shouldn't be so insulting post-orgasm. It's his own fault.

(Besides, Danny messes with Casey's head too. We all remember the fact that Casey went for a CAT scan just because Danny said, oh-so-seriously, that his headaches were probably caused by a tumor.)