Mirror Man

Not A Date!.

Monday dawned and Mark woke alone, Danny had chosen to go back to the guest room the previous night, much to Marks disappointment.

He wasn't happy at all, yes Danny had agreed to be with him, give their relationship a chance, but he hadn't agreed to stay at the house.

Mark could see why really, if they didn't work out for some reason and Danny had left the flat he'd have no home to go to when he left, it made sense, annoyingly, that Danny would be cautious, but he couldn't help but just want Danny to throw that caution to the wind and move in.

But he had sworn to wait, to do whatever it took to hold onto his love, his Danny, and he would just have to grin and bear it, even if he hated it.

Danny sleeping in the guest room was Dannys choice and Mark wasn't going to argue, if that's what it took then so be it.

"Morning Mark, can I come in?", Mark pulled himself up to sitting, the voice of his favourite person muffled through the door.

"You don't need to ask Danny, just come in, this is your space as well", he smiled weakly.

"It's not mine Mark, it's yours" Danny said bluntly, determined not to get used to having any part of the Chandlers house with his name on it, he was going back to his flat as soon as it was ready, and would only be visiting Mark in between job hunting.

He'd turned down the offer to live with the Chandlers, knowing that Hina would once again rip him a new one when she found out he was shying away from falling straight in head first.

He would've loved to stay, he loved the house and the feeling of being a part of a family that actually cared, but in the back of his head there was always the nagging doubt that it would all go wrong.

Catching Marks pissed off look at that last comment, Danny tried to lighten the air, "do you still want to go out today?, do you think your leg will be okay to drive?" Danny said carefully as he perched on the corner chair across from Mark who was still in bed.

"I don't think so, I don't know, I mean if my leg goes dead we could be in trouble, I thought.......I thought we were going to see if we could get you on the insurance, so you could drive?", Mark said, confused.

"Um, yeah well, I don't think that's really appropriate", Danny said sadly, "I.....I want to make a go of us, but I can't.........I just can't get tied in to anything else......not yet", he looked at the floor.

"Danny for christs sakes, it's business insurance, it's not personal insurance, you won't be tied into anything" Mark swung his legs over the side of the bed and made to get out.

"I'm sorry that I can't walk very well, and I can't drive at the moment" he huffed as he made his way to his bathroom, "I was hoping we could go on a date today, just us, we can borrow a car it's not an issue, but I guess I'll just ask dad to drive us instead, I'm going to shower" Mark said tightly as he slowly made his way in through the ensuite door and closed it.

Danny blew out a long breath, the tension between them was horrible, but the more he let his mind wander over the negatives and the possibility that it would all go wrong, the more he reverted back to defensive Danny.

Confident Danny had only shown himself for a while, then gone back into hiding, the dominant negative Danny instantly taking over and convincing him, once again, that it was all too much, all too soon.

It made sense to him, it wouldn't to Hina and obviously didn't to Mark, but Dannys defences were back up and he was closing himself off for fear of being hurt again.

He was so conflicted, one minute he was convinced that he could stay there and be happy for the rest of his life, the next minute that it was all too good to be true and would go wrong, maybe it was time to call the landlord and hurry him up on getting the door fixed.