Pas de Trois

Chapter 42: "You'll have to show me."

Slade watched Danny pouring milk into his morning coffee. Across the table, Carol reached for her cell phone, a sparkly diamond ring on her hand. From the smile on her face as she looked at her phone, Slade knew it had to be a text from Ivan.

"Slade, you want some?" Danny looked up. He'd just wiped a drip of milk off the rim of his cup and dipped the finger in his mouth.

"Absolutely," Slade grinned. Danny rolled his eyes and came to sit down.

"Dan, I think Slade just said yes," Carol had missed the entire thing. Moment over, Slade gave Danny a different smile.

"I would, actually, like some coffee," he agreed. Danny narrowed his eyes but got up to pour Slade a cup.

"Don't tell me. Lots of cream."

"I like a lot. You know me," Slade bit his tongue. Carol was back to ignoring them, thankfully.

In a lot of ways it was easier that she and Ivan knew about his and Danny's relationship. But in others, it was sometimes just as annoying as Slade always imagined. Carol had all kinds of weird ideas about them needing to spend time with other people and not getting too serious too fast.

Slade wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but he did know he still couldn't get a good read on Danny. He knew they were in love but that was all he knew for sure. That and that he was completely wrecked for his best friend.

Maybe it was because he'd realized most of what he felt for Danny he'd always felt. Rather than slowly falling in love, it was more like waking up at home after a long time away. Slade just felt so good and so in love with Danny - but sometimes he couldn't tell what it meant.

"Here you go, Mouse," Danny's finger brushed the back of Slade's hand as he set the steaming mug in front of him.

"Thank you," Slade smiled. Whenever Danny did things like that, Slade stopped wondering about what would happen next. Danny had no way of knowing that those little things pulled him back to the present moment so easily.

"You boys are leaving the house today, right?" Carol put her phone down.

"Yes, Mama," Danny took his seat again. "We're going to walk through Fort Tryon Park with Olivier and then meeting Chloe at Magnolia."

"And you're going to check in with me how often?"

Slade zoned out again as Danny promised they would keep in touch. As soon as he started in on his breakfast he forgot to worry about anything other than eating as much of Carol's cheesy grits as he could stuff in his mouth.

Carol left for work when she made sure they were busy cleaning up the breakfast dishes. She tried to be sneaky about it, but Slade saw the wedding magazine she tucked into her bag as she was leaving the house. It was cute but it got him thinking all over again.

"Are we showering before we go?" Danny asked.

"Mm, I don't want to," Slade would have been happy to climb back in bed, if that were an option. With his stomach nice and full the idea of a nap was calling to him.

"Me neither," Danny started the dishwasher. "Is your yellow shirt clean? I think you should wear that one."

"No idea," Slade barely even thought about it and followed Danny through the main sitting area to his bedroom.

"You're getting a nice tan this year, the yellow just looks so good on you."

Slade sat on his bed, trying to remind himself again that napping wasn't allowed. They were supposed to meet Olivier at 10 which meant if he drifted off he would just get woken up again right away.