The Pretender Ch. 05

Michael had to admit that Daniel seemed to do pretty well with himself even one handed, especially since he was sure the man was right handed. For a moment he was a bit worried Daniel really wouldn't need him. In fact he watched with amazement as Daniel dug his keys out of his right pocket with his left hand, and unlocked the door. Michael followed him in.

"Want something to eat, or drink?" Daniel asked.

"Bottle of water?"

Daniel walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water as Michael walked over to the couch.

"Catch." Daniel said as he tossed the water to Michael. Michael caught it and sat down on the couch.

"Watch what you want. I think I'm going to go take a nap." Daniel said, walking towards his bedroom.

"Okay. Call if you need anything."

Michael quietly got up from the couch to sneak behind Daniel to see how the injured man was going to fair.

Daniel, with his back to the door, reached over behind his head, grabbed a portion of his tshirt at the collar and pulled it over his head. He tentatively pulled off the sling. Michael heard him wince once as the scratchy material of the sling rubbed on his stitches. He pulled back the covers, pulled a second pillow over, and crawled into bed. Michael watched with intent interest, watching Daniel's cute butt press against the fabric of the scrub bottoms he was still wearing. Daniel laid on his left side, his right arm curled protectively against his midsection. Michael left him to his nap. After all the excitement of the day, he decided to pull out the couch to lie down. While one of the Harry Potter movies played in the background, Michael drifted off to sleep.

Daniel woke up about 2 hours after he'd fallen asleep. It had been about 6 hours since his last pain pill, and his arm and thigh were throbbing. First things first though, he really had to pee. He stumbled into the bathroom. After a bit of struggle he finally managed to piss without making to much of a mess. He walked out to the living room because he wasn't sure where Michael had set his meds, if he'd even brought them in from the car. He laughed when he spotted Michael zonked out on the couch, snoring.

Daniel shrugged and looked around for any sign of the drugs. As he walked into the kitchen, he spotted the white pharmacy bag on the counter. He shook the vial out, and using his hip, he stabilized it against the counter and used his left hand to undo the child proof lid. He reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. Daniel contemplated how to open the water, since pushing it against his hip like he did with his pills would result in water spilling onto him, and he was sure Michael would make fun of him if it looked like he wet himself. Or he could ask Michael to open it, but he was sure that he'd get made fun of for that too. Daniel figured he could hold the bottle in his right hand easier then trying to twist the cap off.

"SON OF A..." Michael woke up to a violent yell that cut off before the curse slipped out. He bolted up, and ran to the kitchen. Daniel was standing there holding a paper towel to his right arm, blood leaking through. A bottle of water was on the floor.

"Hey, are you okay?" Michael asked.

Daniel looked at him through a glaze of tears.

"Yeah. I think I might have torn a stitch though."

"Why didn't you wake me up? I could have helped."

Daniel just shook his head.

"Daniel, really, that's why I'm here. Let me help you."

"Look, I can take care of myself. And if I wasn't so concerned about you making fun of me for spilling water, I would have done that instead of trying to use my right hand. I didn't want you to say 'I told you so', whereas if you weren't here, I would have no problem with water on my pants instead of bleeding. So this is your freaking fault." The tears that had been brimming started to fall. Michael stepped up and pulled Daniel to him. Daniel buried his face into Michael's neck and gave into the tears.

"I'm sorry." Michael said. "I know you can take care of yourself. I've already seen how you've adjusted and was surprised. I just know how stubborn my dad has been when injured and eventually he always gave up because he couldn't do something, so before knowing how well you could adjust I just assumed you would have problems. I'm sorry."

"Okay." Daniel said, muffled and teary against Michael.

"I also just want to take care of you. You're special to me, being my best friend here. Let me take care of you because I want to, not because you need it?"

"Okay."

"Good. Now let me look at your arm."

Daniel took a small step back from Michael and pulled the paper towel off. Michael grabbed some fresh paper towel, moistened it with some cold water and started to wipe some of the blood off. Daniel swiped at his face, removing the remaining tears.

"Ew. Your shirt's all gross from me crying on you, and there's blood on it now."

"Don't worry about it. I'll change in a moment, let's make sure I don't need to call Ben about your stitches okay?"

Daniel held still as Michael poked at his bite wounds, making sure nothing had gaped open. He gritted his teeth, as Michael's prodding reminded him he needed to take his codeine.

"Okay, it all looks good to me." Michael bent over and picked up the water and cracked it open. Daniel reached over for his pill, popped it in and chased it with the water.

"I have some extra shirts that might fit you in my room." Daniel said after he swallowed the pill.

"Go lay down on the couch, I'll find something. I creeped around in your room that other morning and found some scrubs that fit so I'm sure I'll find a regular shirt. Even if it's too big for me."

"You aren't that much smaller than I am, I wear a XL shirt, but that's because of my shoulders. I think you probably wear a large right?"

"Yeah, usually. Sometimes I squeeze into a medium, just to get guys to look at me, hahaha. Just kidding, I'm not that muscular." Michael wandered down the hallway.

Daniel sat cross legged on the couch.

"Bring the pillows with you when you come back?" Daniel called down the hallway.

"Sure, just as soon as I clean this pee off the toilet and floor..." Michael teased.

"Shut up, if I'd woken up earlier I wouldn't have had to pee so badly and I could've aimed better. Thank you though!"

Daniel laid down on the couch, feeling a bit drowsy from the pill already. He pulled the decorative pillows over. Michael came back into the living room with the pillows, and two new bottles of water. He was wearing one of Daniel's favorite shirts, a plain blue undershirt that brought out the clear blue of his eyes. On Michael it seemed to lighten his normally rich chocolate colored eyes to a hazel.

"Lift your head." Michael said as he placed one pillow near the wall behind Daniel.

Daniel lifted his head up, and Michael leaned down, setting the pillow under Daniel's head. Daniel noticed a strange gleam in his eyes, just prior to him leaning closer. Their lips met in a gentle, soft kiss that left Daniel aching for more. Michael touched his forehead to Daniel's. Daniel lifted up slightly for a second kiss, as gentle as the first. Michael pulled back then, looking into Daniel's eyes before whispering,

"Let's not get too carried away... If you weren't hurt I would be totally taking advantage."

Michael crawled onto the couch behind Daniel, being careful to not bump his right arm.

"What are you watching out here anyway?"

"Harry Potter movie marathon. I think I dozed off not to long after you did, though."

"Ah, okay. I wasn't sure, since all I saw was credits rolling. I'm good with that though... I'm probably going to drift off a bit anyway. I have poor drug tolerance..." Daniel said sleepily.

"Here," Michael motioned for him to roll onto his left side. He spooned up behind Daniel. "This okay?"

"Mmmhmm." Daniel somewhat nodded. Michael huffed out a quiet laugh. Daniel leaned back into him, snuggling in.

The boys napped for another hour or so, and as Daniel woke up he luxuriated in being held by Michael. Although he'd really just seen Michael as a really good friend, he was turning into more, especially if those kisses were anything to go by. He really was a great guy, fun to hang out with, funny when appropriate and serious when needed. He had such a big heart too, Daniel realized. Looking back, he could see that Michael truly was interested in getting Daniel to be comfortable in his own skin. Sure, he was attracted to Daniel, or at least it seemed like it, but he didn't push Daniel into intimacy. In order to keep Michael around, he may have to step things up a bit, Daniel thought. Or at least let Michael know he was interested in a relationship so he wouldn't loose him when Michael had to go back to school.

"Mike..." Daniel nudged back with his shoulder.

"Michael..." Michael murmured.

"What?"

"I prefer Michael. Sounds more adult."

"Hmm, yeah, I prefer Daniel for the same reason. And everyone used to try and call me Danny and that just sounds like a girl name." He paused briefly, and then continued, "When you go back to school, do you have anybody special back there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know, like a boyfriend or a hookup or whatever..." Daniel fell quiet.

"No boyfriend. I hope you know I wouldn't be cuddling with another guy if I had one."

"Well, you can't be too careful." Daniel said softly.

Michael sighed.

"Does that mean you're leaning towards wanting to be more than friends?"

"If you want..." Michael could barely hear the response.

"Yeah, I want." Michael said.

Daniel sighed contently.

"Feeling okay? Need anything?" Michael asked.

"I'm a bit hungry, but my stomach feels off..."

"Ah, yeah Ben said the codeine can sometimes upset your stomach. It's probably a good idea to do something a bit more bland."

"I have some crackers in the cabinet."

"Stay here, I'll go get them." Michael said.

"I'm not an invalid. I could get them myself."

"Remember what I said about wanting to take care of you?"

"Okay... fine..." Daniel said. "This might take some getting used to."

Sunday evening came too fast for both men. Michael was going to leave for California, and would be returning to Madison in 2 weeks. With 2 hours separating them, Daniel was unsure how their budding relationship would fair. And he wasn't sure what to do with himself since he was off a week from work, doctor's orders. Even if the doctor's orders were encouraged by Ben a bit. Daniel and Michael were sitting crossed legged on the pulled out couch, eating dinner.

"Excited for California?" Daniel asked.

"Meh, sorta." Michael shrugged.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I hate leaving while you're still recovering. And I'm going to miss hanging out with you."

"Me too. Can you give me your number? Maybe we can text or call each other if you're not too busy out there." Daniel asked shyly.

"I'd like that. Here give me your phone." Michael reached over. Daniel leaned back to get the phone out of his front pocket. Michael mistook the motion as Daniel trying to get away from him. He moved quickly, and started to tickle Daniel's side. He'd found over the weekend inadvertently that Daniel was pretty ticklish. Daniel yelped and tried to squirm away. After a bit of gentle wrestling, Michael ended up pinning Daniel down, into the pillows on the couch. Both boys were breathing hard, and Michael took advantage of the situation, and kissed Daniel hard. Daniel moaned under his breath and returned the kiss. Not wanting to accidentally bump Daniel's arm, he rolled him over, so Daniel was on top. Michael peppered Daniel's face with kisses, as Daniel got into the make out season more and more. It was hard to control his instincts, and Daniel's body was responding to Michael's touch. He could feel under him Michael's hard penis, growing larger. It encouraged his hips to start moving. Together they bumped their cocks, hips grinding. Too quickly, they started to reach the pinnacle. Just about as Michael was to spill his load, Daniel abruptly rolled over and sat on the edge of the couch, breathing hard.

"Daniel?"

"It's... God, I can't, I..." Daniel started to breath erratically.

"Hey, hey, hey... shhhhh. It's okay, deep breathes. You are Daniel. You were made this way. Deep breaths. There we go. Okay...." Michael rubbed Daniel's back.

"I'm sorry...." Daniel whispered.

"No, don't be. I pushed you further then you were comfortable. It's my fault."

"No, I wanted to be pushed but in the back of my mind, I just couldn't. If I purposefully make out and have sex with another man, there's no turning back. And it was just too much for my brain to handle right now. I feel so messed up!"

"Look, we've all gone through it. And yeah, this was a big step. Don't think you failed just because you couldn't finish it. Baby steps, right? One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind..."

Daniel laughed at the Apollo 11 reference.

"Look, why don't I give you Hugh's number in addition to mine. If you need to, call me, or Hugh. Or Ben for that matter. We can all help you, but I think Hugh might be the one you need to talk to the most. He works with a lot of high risk youth, as well as the LBGT community for counseling. Promise me you'll call him? And once I'm back in the state, we'll try to go out for dinner or something."

"Like a date?" Daniel asked.

"Like a date. I want to get to know you better, Daniel. I really think that we have something special that I want to explore. You're like my best friend, but I think we could have something great."

"I want that too." Daniel smiled.