SN ficlet: Spring Cleaning

[out_there]

celli asked for Dan/Casey: "I'm burning that shirt, Casey. With you in it if necessary."


Spring Cleaning

Casey understood the idea of Spring Cleaning. After a long, cold winter, spring was the perfect time for giving the bathroom a good scrub and cleaning behind the fridge. It was the time of year when you vacuumed everywhere, not just the places that could be seen, and reorganised linen cupboards, swapping the winter bedding for summer bedding. What Casey didn't understand was how Spring Cleaning involved his wardrobe.

"Danny..."

"Don't argue with me on this," Dan replied with the stubborn grin that either drove Casey nuts, or made him want to kiss Dan senseless. Right now, it was doing both.

"I don't need to clean out my wardrobe."

Dan laughed loudly, which Casey considered rather uncharitable. "How many Henley shirts do you own?"

"Four," Casey replied, glancing in the closet quickly. He didn't bother to mention the other one currently sitting in the laundry.

"You need to clear through your wardrobe. You need to go through and throw out the stuff you don't wear and the stuff you shouldn't be seen in public in. Take a guess as to which of those categories the Henley shirts belong in."

"Danny, I like my shirts," Casey said firmly.

Dan grinned and pressed a quick, warm kiss against Casey's lips. "I know you do. Which is why you need someone else to help you clear your wardrobe."

"Fine." Casey relented and stopped leaning against the other closet door. Dan started pulling out hangers, throwing clothes onto the floor. After a few moments, Casey realized Dan was actually throwing them into three messy piles.

"What are you doing?"

"Sorting," Dan replied, throwing another shirt on to the middle pile. "It's 'Yes', 'Nos' and 'Maybes.'"

"What?"

Dan pointed to the pile on the left. "'Yes' are the clothes that you're definitely keeping because you look damn good in them."

Casey grinned, noticing the 'yes' pile was the biggest so far.

"'Maybes' are the clothes that you'll have to look at later and think carefully about how much you want to keep them," Dan said, pointing to the pile on the right. Then, he pointed at the middle pile. "'Nos' are the clothes that get dumped in a charity bin tonight."

Dan turned back to the wardrobe, pulling out another armful of clothes. Watching him, Casey thought carefully about his options. He could try to stop Dan now and have to deal with a sulking Danny all night. Or, he could let Dan go ahead and just hope for the best. Sighing, Casey stepped back and sat down on the bed.

Most of the 'no' pile were clothes that he'd had for years, shirts that didn't quite fit anymore, and the occasional gift that he'd always hated but had never got around to destroying. The pale pink shirt that Lisa had once given him fluttered onto the 'no' pile, probably understanding how much it belonged there. Then there was the orange shirt that had looked good in the store, but actually turned out to be one of the most hideous things in creation. Casey still wondered if he was drunk when he bought that; it seemed like the only reasonable explanation.

Then, Dan threw his white J Press shirt into the 'no' pile and Casey had to object. "I'm not throwing that out."

"Yes, you are."

Casey blinked at Dan, and snatched the shirt off the pile. "No, I'm not."

Dan stood back and raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"It's my favourite shirt?" Casey tried hopefully.

"You don't have a favorite shirt."

"True, but if I did, it'd be this shirt."

Dan glanced down at the white linen in Casey's hands. "Why?"

Casey shrugged.

"If that's your best reason, we burn that shirt now, Casey."

"I like the shirt. It's a quality cut, it's quality material, it looks good on me."

"Casey?" Dan put on his resolve-face, meaning he was going to get stubborn about this. "Is that, or is that not, the shirt you wore to Sally's?"

"Umm..." Casey quickly fished around for the best answer he could give to that. In the end, he just went with the truth. "Yeah."

"That Gordon wore?"

"Yeah."

"That Dana later gave back to you?"

"Yeah."

Dan watched him for a long, slow minute. "And you want to keep the shirt?"

"I like it."

Dan stalked over to the bed, looming over Casey just a little. "I'm burning that shirt, Casey. With you in it if necessary."

"But I like it," Casey repeated, holding on to the shirt.

"Give me the shirt," Dan ordered clearly and then grabbed hold of the other end. What ensued was basically a game of tug-of-war, Casey holding on to the shoulders of the shirt while Dan pulled at the shirt-tail.

"Dan!"

"Give. Me. The shirt!"

There was a highly ominous rip, the type of sound you expected to hear when someone split open the space-time continuum, and both of them went flying backwards, with half a shirt in their hands. From somewhere amongst the 'maybe' pile, Dan sniggered and said, "Well, at least you can't wear it now."

"I really liked that shirt," Casey muttured as he sat up on the bed.

"It's just a shirt."

"I bought it on the day of the divorce." Casey fingered the white cotton. "I really liked it."

Dan settled beside him on the mattress, and gently pulled the half-shirt out of his hands. "I'll buy you another one."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Dan replied, and then kissed him, the typical Danny slow, wet kiss. Casey slipped his hands under Danny's top, rubbing circles into Dan's bare skin. Dan pressed brushed a quick kiss against his lips and then pulled back. "Just as soon as we've finished clearing out your wardrobe."

The End.

Comments

[that_mireille]

Aw, I liked this. Although Danny, I'm nowhere near believing you when you argue "It's just a shirt." If it were just a shirt, you'd let Casey keep it... *g*

[out-there.livejournal.com]

Although Danny, I'm nowhere near believing you when you argue "It's just a shirt." If it were just a shirt, you'd let Casey keep it... *g*

Ah, you have seen through his sneaky and nefarious scheme!

I'm glad you liked it, obvious hypocrisy and all.

[celli]

*grins woozily*

[out-there.livejournal.com]

*smooches you*

*tucks you into bed*

[laylee.livejournal.com]

::Hugs Danny::

::Hugs you for giving us cute Danny::

[out-there.livejournal.com]

*beams*

Isn't he adorable when happy?

*hugs you back*

[veronamay.livejournal.com]

Hee! Cute.

Now I wanna see Danny let loose on Casey's shoes.

Oh. And he should also take him jeans shopping. ::nods::

[out-there.livejournal.com]

*sniggerS* We all have some very definite issues with Casey's wardrobe, don't we?

Thanks. I'm glad you liked it.

[veronamay.livejournal.com]

Don't get me started. I haven't even mentioned his hair. Nate's hair is miles better than Casey's, even on a bad day.

Oh, now there's a thought: Dan, Nate, broken-down elevator ...

[out-there.livejournal.com]

No, no, no, no. Not the hair. Nobody touches the hair.

I like the hair.

(Nate's hair? Meh. Casey's? I have a soft spot for floppy haired guys.)

Oh, now there's a thought: Dan, Nate, broken-down elevator ...

*blinks* And yet...? Still can't picture Nate as anything but straight.

[veronamay.livejournal.com]

Really? I'm a spiky/scruffy admirer from way back. (*coughPaulMcDermottcough*)

Though I make an exception for Hutch. Hutch's hair is just about perfect. (Except for the blondness, but I'm not going there either.)

As for Nate ... I see him as all too easily interested in brother David's lifestyle. Maybe not enough to take it up permanently, but I could definitely buy his experimenting a few times or more.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

Paul McDermott makes it work.

As for Nate ... I see him as all too easily interested in brother David's lifestyle. Maybe not enough to take it up permanently, but I could definitely buy his experimenting a few times or more.

Huh. REally? I'm totally... not seeing that. I mean, Nate experimenting with drugs, and hetsex? Definitely. I just don't think he's ever really been tempted to explore gaysex.

[veronamay.livejournal.com]

He just seems so interested in season 1 when David first comes out, and so generally happy about it. It's a total non-issue for him, and seeing him like that with David makes me think that he must've at least thought about it himself in some depth.

And then I read this extremely cute story (from Yuletide Treasures, I think) where he and David got drunk together, and, well ... yeah. I could so go there. ;)

[out-there.livejournal.com]

He just seems so interested in season 1 when David first comes out, and so generally happy about it. It's a total non-issue for him, and seeing him like that with David makes me think that he must've at least thought about it himself in some depth.

Huh. Whereas I read that completely the other way. He isn't threatened or concerned about "the gay agenda", and he isn't a close-minded person (in fact, David would be the far more closed-minded of the two *sniggers*). I just accepted it as... that's something that he can accept about David easily because he's so damn certain it doesn't apply to him. Nate's never questioned his sexuality because he knows he's straight.

There's a hell of a lot else in his life he doesn't know, but that's one thing that he does have a grip on.

And, um. You don't happen to have a link to that story, do you? The only SFU story where I bought into the Nate slash was Nate/Brenda/Billy threesome, and yes, just as screwed up as it sounds.

[veronamay.livejournal.com]

That's a very screwy threesome. Interesting, though. *g*

Here's the link to the Nate/David story:

Ecstasy (http://www.intimations.org/yuletide/archive/1/ecstasy.html)

There's another one on that archive called "Six", but I haven't read that.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

I will give the fics points for capturing high!nate's voice, but...

You have no idea how much of that fic I was reading with my eyes scrunched shut.

Oh... *pulls face* I don't believe it, but damn if the author didn't get a great grip on Nate's pov. So very him.

I'm kinda freaked out now.

[veronamay.livejournal.com]

LOL, sorry! Didn't mean to affect your psyche.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

That's a very screwy threesome. Interesting, though. *g

Aha! Found it! Triptych (http://debchan.com/misc/triptych.html). Should have known it was by Debchan.

Set S1, back when it wasn't so clear that the incest-y vibes were just coming from Billy.

[veronamay.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks for that. I'll check it out.

[oxoniensis.livejournal.com]

Funny how Danny remembers so many details about something that's 'just a shirt'! *g* Jealous!Dan is so adorable.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

*pets Jealous!Dan* He is, isn't he?

Thanks for commenting, Signe.