The Pretender Ch. 08

"You screw up, I'll be right there to pick up the pieces." Westley said, punctuating the remark by taking a drink of his beer.

"I know." Daniel nodded.

"Good. Otherwise, I think you're probably a nice guy. I'd like to be friends too for Michael's sake. Seriously though... I'm not joking. Just give me a reason to step in."

"Sure. I would be surprised if you didn't. Michael is a special guy. I'm glad I met him, I'm not sure where I would be without him."

"Just so we're clear about each other." Westley said. They heard the downstairs door shut. Michael walked into the apartment shortly after.

"No food yet?" He asked.

"Nope." Daniel said.

"Rats. I was hoping it was here. I'm starving."

"It can't be too much longer..." Daniel was interrupted by the buzz of the door buzzer.

"Awesome timing." Michael said, as he grabbed the cash from Daniel and ran down the stairs. He came back up with his arms full. The rest of the evening went smoothly, with no more dirty looks from Westley to Daniel or visa versa. Michael was relieved they seemed to get along well.



Westley disappeared into the spare bedroom to change into his pajamas. Michael turned to Daniel.

"Okay, so we can either share my bed, or if you would be more comfortable with Westley being here, I can sleep on the couch."

"Um... I'd prefer to sleep with you actually. It makes me a bit uncomfortable with Westley here, but the idea of being held by you trumps the discomfort."

Michael laughed.

"Okay good. I feel like it's been longer than 3 weeks since you were here last."

"When are you planning to go visit your parents next? You could stay with me..."

"Ooo. Next month I should have some time. I think that sounds like a good idea."

Westley came out from the bedroom in a pair of low slung pajama bottoms. He was almost hairless, and what he did have was such a pale blond, it looked like he was shaven clean. He scratched his chest.

"You guys staying up for a bit?" Westley asked.

"We might watch a movie if you wanted to join us."

"Depends on what you might watch I guess."

"Hmm. Good question. We watched Die Hard the last time Daniel was here, we could watch Die Hard 2," Michael started to pick through his pile of DVDs, "what's on the top here, hmm" he muttered to himself "Ah, Ghostbusters?"

"I'm game." Daniel laughed.

"Sounds good." Westley said as he sat in the recliner.

Daniel was already sitting on the couch near the far end. Michael sat next to him, and encouraged him to turn sideways. Just like the visit prior they snuggled on the couch, but with Daniel behind Michael. Daniel caught a jealous look from Westley, but it was covered up quickly. They watched the movie with companionable silence. As soon as the credits rolled, Westley stood up.

"I'm going to go get some sleep. I got up early this morning. I could hardly keep my eyes open during the last part."

Daniel laughed quietly.

"I'm pretty sure Michael's asleep..." He said.

Westley looked over and then laughed.

"Yeah, he's drooling on your shoulder."

"Ew." Daniel said making a face by scrunching up his nose.

"Good night. See you in the morning." Westley said as he headed into the spare bedroom.

"Sleeping beauty..." Daniel whispered in Michael's ear.

"Mmm." Michael half groaned.

"Come on, let's go to bed. Otherwise you will be complaining about your back tomorrow morning."

"Mkay." Michael reluctantly sat up and then helped Daniel up. They walked to the bedroom together.

"So you and Westley seem to be doing okay with each other, huh?" Michael asked as he crawled into the bed after Daniel.

"A bit, yeah. We had a quick discussion when you ran for beer."

"About?"

"Basically he said to not screw up, otherwise he's going to take advantage of it."

"He's not really my type. But if I hadn't met you, I would have been tempted. I'm not going to lie."

"And I basically told him I knew that, and honestly, if you and I don't work out, I'm okay with it. He seems like a nice guy."

"I think we'll make it." Michael said sleepily, wrapping his arms around Daniel.

"Yeah. I think so too."



Another month went past quickly April approaching almost without notice. The boys talked on the phone almost nightly. In what felt like no time at all, the weekend of Michael's visit had arrived. Daniel was supposed to meet Michael over at his parent's house for dinner on Friday night. Daniel didn't hear from Michael the whole day, but decided to go over to the Jacobson house as planned. When he arrived, he didn't see Michael's car, and got a little concerned. He walked up to the house and rang the bell.

"Daniel!" Janice said as she ushered him in.

"Hi Janice, how are you?" Daniel asked.

"Good, good. David's in the living room, Michael isn't here yet, but should be soon."

Daniel followed her into the living room where Michael's dad was watching the news.

"Hey Daniel, how have you been? It's good to see you again."

"Doing well. Works been busy. Always seems to be around this time of year."

"Heartworm season... everyone needs to get in for blood tests and get prevention." David said.

"Yup." Daniel said.

About 20 minutes later, there was still no Michael, and Janice became a bit worried.

"Do you think I should call him?" She asked David.

"Might as well, mostly to calm your nerves I think." David replied.

Janice picked up her cell phone and dialed Michael's number.

"Hey sweetheart, just wanted to see where you were at... Okay... alright. See you then."

Janice hung up.

"He's still about a half hour away. There was an accident in Madison that he got stuck behind. He said we should start dinner without him."

"Okay." David said as he got up from his recliner. Daniel followed them to the dining room.

After dishing up food, Janice turned to Daniel.

"So, have you told your parents yet?"

"No. I keep thinking maybe I won't have to, and at some point they'll realize it on their own, or hear about it and I won't have to deal with the consequences. Wishful thinking." Daniel said.

"Oh, honey, I guess a passive way is okay to try. I think Michael originally tried to tell us that way too, but we'd already suspected anyway. Subtle hints don't work well with us." Janice laughed.

They all enjoyed eating dinner together, even though Michael wasn't there. Daniel was beginning to feel like he finally belonged somewhere.



Michael came just as they were finishing washing the dishes after dinner. Janice had set aside a plate for him, so as soon as he walked in and kissed her cheek, she handed him the plate. He headed for the table.

"Where's your kiss for Daniel? You're such a bad boyfriend." She teased. Michael got up from the table, sauntered over to Daniel, bent him over romance movie style and kissed him silly. Without saying a word, he went back to the table to eat. Daniel blushed fiercely, while Janice and David laughed.



After Michael finished eating, they decided to head out to Daniel's apartment for the night, with plans to meet up with his parents for brunch. Michael followed Daniel, pulling up to park on the opposite side of the parking lot from him.

"It's such a mild night out, do you want to go for a walk to the park?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah. I need to stretch after being in the car for almost 3 hours." Michael replied.

They walked slowly down to the park, enjoying the quiet of the town. It didn't take long to get to the park, but there was a beautiful river that flowed to the south of the park, out of sight from the playground. They walked hand in hand on the wooded path towards the river.

"So, how's school treating you?"

"Good. I'm ready to graduate, but 2 more months... 2 more months. And then I will hopefully be working around this area." Michael said wistfully.

"Have you applied for a job around here?"

"There were a few openings posted recently. A few nibbles, but no interview yet. Probably closer to May I think clinics will start to get serious."

"True. So what happens if you can't find a job around here?"

"Well, honestly, how would you feel about moving with me?" Michael asked a bit hesitantly.

"I'd follow you. Supposedly there's a shortage of techs throughout the state. Or we could try long distance for a while until we could find jobs close together."

"I guess we'll see what happens." They neared a set of rocks along side the river. Daniel motioned for Michael to join him on a wide flat rock. The two sat on the rock listening to the burble of the river as it flowed over the rocks in the water.

"This is great. I've never actually been down this direction. I've always stayed up by the playground. I totally forgot the river was here."

"It's so quiet; I often come here to think." Daniel said.

The boys sat together for a while, just enjoying the quiet. Michael leaned over and kissed Daniel softly. Daniel returned the kiss eagerly. Michael was so happy Daniel seemed to be over his reluctance and worries over being in a gay relationship. The boys continued to kiss, loosing themselves in the moment. Michael leaned over Daniel, laying him back onto the rock. Suddenly, a flash of light swung over them. They tipped back to look up, and with shock, they realized a police officer was standing there, pointing a flashlight at them.



"Look, normally I wouldn't have interrupted, but the park is technically closed after 11." The officer said as he followed them out of the park. As soon as they got under a street light, Daniel realized he was not only in the presence of a city police officer, but the k-9 unit's handler Mark. Who of course, was a client at the clinic he worked at, and was friends with his bosses. Which meant Daniel was probably going to be 'outed' whether he wanted to be or not.

"Daniel, right?" Mark asked.

Daniel coughed. "Yeah. Sorry Mark. Won't happen again."

"Good. Well, I'll let you off with an unofficial warning. So no paper trail or anything like that. We just have had some issues with vandalism, and drug use out here recently late at night, so we've been doing a walk through each night."

"Understandable. Well, have a nice night Mark." Daniel said. Michael remained quiet as they continued walking back to Daniel's apartment.

"This could be bad." Daniel said.

"Obviously you knew that guy..." Michael started.

"He's a client. And he hangs out with my bosses. If this gets back to the clinic, I could have issues."

"What do you mean?"

"It's such a conservative area. I can just see people not wanting to work with me, or who knows. I hope to God I'm overreacting, but I feel like I may need to find a new job earlier than June."