Chapter Text
Danny was at the movie theatre. He couldn’t remember what movie he was going to see but he was there and he was vaguely aware of his friends being present throughout the room. He didn’t know their exact seats but the room was large and the big white screen in front of him wasn’t playing anything yet. No commercials, no movie, no nothing. He wasn’t even turned to face the screen. He was turned to the side and Charlie was there. First he’d seem to be sitting so far away but he was right next to Danny, also turned to the side, leaning in just a little.
Charlie was talking to Danny but Danny wasn’t registering any of his words. He had a hard time focussing on what Charlie was saying. He stared at Charlie’s expressions, the happiness in his eyes and gestures as he told Danny about whatever he wanted to tell him about. Danny remembered leaning in more when Charlie did. He remembered closing his eyes and then… nothing.
Danny woke up confused and dazed. For some reason he was under the impression that he hadn’t just been talking to Charlie at the movies but he had kissed him and Charlie had been the one to initiate it. Danny didn’t know if that idea came from his imagination filling in the dream gaps or if it really was what happened in the dream and he just didn’t remember it anymore.
Either way, he felt a bit sick after. Not because of Charlie, no, he’d felt good in the dream. He felt guilty. Guilty for dreaming of a good friend like that but how could he feel that way? You don’t choose who you dream of in a more intimate setting. Lots of people dream about kissing or more and never show a single bit of interest in that person in real life. Many people are disgusted by it when they wake up. It held no power over Danny at all.
Except that it did.
It kept bringing his thoughts back to Charlie. He was something alright. No one would dare to doubt that statement. Whether it was Charlie standing on top of a car, drunk and singing Everywhere I Go loudly or Charlie staring down Johnny in an epic argument even though Johnny was twice his size and lifted triple his weight in the gym. Charlie was something. Danny wasn’t even shocked anymore when Charlie would do something out of the blue weird. Charlie was just Charlie and everyone kinda handled his behaviour through those thoughts. At times he could express an opinion so backwards that Danny had to keep his lips sealed in order not to start an argument with him. He didn’t want to start telling Charlie why he was wrong in at least 50 languages at this point.
Though for some weird reason no one ever held Charlie’s backwards comments against him. And for some weird reason, Danny understood. He understood that with every nice comment Charlie made or every time he would take a step forward to protect a friend, it made up for all the bad comments and dumb stuff that left his mouth.
The dream really dug into his brain, really lodged itself in there and didn’t intend on leaving. It had triggered Danny to think about Charlie on a more personal, deeper level. He didn’t think there was anything going on. Just a dream that made him question why he’d thought of that in the first place. He didn’t like Charlie that way. Charlie’s interests in life were honestly completely opposite of Danny’s. Danny knew that if Charlie and him ever had anything going on, it would end in a dumpster fire within weeks.
They were just too different in life. Their opinions and morals clashed badly. Charlie didn’t mind swinging out a micro-aggressive comment, didn’t mind telling everyone openly he thought people were overly sensitive. Danny was more reserved and preferred to respect other people’s boundaries. He’s the villain, I’m the good guy. Maybe my descriptions of us are biased since I disagree with him, Danny thought to himself at some point.
Anyway, Danny had been bothered by Charlie at first with his dumb comments. He’d been able to laugh at a lot of them because they were so outlandish sometimes, but he’d avoided it at first. Then that Charlie charm just found its way into his heart and he’d learned to laugh it off with him. Only him. Only he could make an offensive comment sound like a great joke.
Danny found himself annoyed at every thought about Charlie. Why was he thinking about him so much after that one dumb dream? He told himself it was because he’d spent a long time in a small space with him on tour, had spent most of his time hanging out with Charlie when the others went off on their own. He really should’ve seen it coming that he would see Charlie in his dreams. He always dreamt of things and people surrounding him on a daily basis. Hey! The others had been in the movie theatre too!
Danny blinked, a crease splitting his forehead into a confused feature. He raised an eyebrow at himself. Did I really just spend 10 minutes thinking about Charlie of all people?
He rolled his eyes.
“Damn Danny, if I’m boring you, just tell me instead of rolling those eyes at me”, Dylan huffed. Danny’s attention returned to the real world with Dylan standing in front of him. He cracked a smile. “Sorry, you could never bore me. I was annoyed with my own thoughts.”
“What were you thinking of?”
Danny shrugged. “Not important”, he tapped his pencil against the notebook in his lap. “I really hope Charlie brings some of his best works to the studio.”
He winced at the comment when he noticed Charlie’s name left his lips again. There was a sense of guilt in his brain when he’d talk about Charlie to Dylan. He was afraid Dylan would notice he’d been mentioning him so much. Shut up, it’s just a hyperfixation. Like that time you were crazy obsessed with Thundercats as a kid. Honestly surprised I didn’t turn out to be a furry.
“I hope he takes a while to get here with the others”, Dylan smirked. He leaned in and kissed Danny sweetly on his hair. Danny subconsciously pushed him away and stopped himself when he noticed, seemingly trying to make it up to himself for doing that by pulling Dylan down to kiss his lips.
“Were you pushing me away at first?”
“No. I mean yes. I don’t know. I don’t like it when you kiss my hair. You do it way too often”, Danny shrugged.
Dylan slowly nodded but there was a blank stare in his eyes. He didn’t understand. But that’s fine. Danny took a deep breath. “Sorry, I’ve been weird inside.”
“I’ve noticed. Tell me if there’s anything I can do for you, alright?”
Danny smiled. “Come sit with me and hug me?”
No need to tell Dylan twice. He was by Danny’s side in less than a second, arms wrapped around Danny’s all. Danny sunk into the embrace and closed his eyes, just for a second. Just a second of peace.
And if he imagined the embrace to belong to someone else, Danny wasn’t ever going to admit that.