His hand is actually on the knob, turning it, when Steve finally says something. If Danny can call it that. The one croaked word is barely speech, barely a word, but it does what it's supposed to do, right, because Danny stops. He doesn't drop his hand, or un-turn the knob, but he stops, looking slightly over his shoulder, cautious, but there's no follow up, and he's about to pull the door open, when there's a sudden footfall against the floor.

Not heavy boots. The light shoes that go with this suit, the one Steve wore tonight, to play the part, that Danny had his hands all over, hates for how good it looks, hates the costume it is.

But maybe not as much as he hates standing here, waiting for Steve to get close enough to...what? Take him up on the offer of a free punch, maybe, except the steps stop a few feet away, and Danny cants a little further, still without fully looking back, until.

Until Steve starts with a question, that freezes thick in Danny's throat, because he doesn't sound pissed, or cold, or stony. He sounds. Confused? Bewildered?

Sentences starting and stopping, mid-word, in a way Steve never does, which makes Danny turn, almost as much as those last three words do, that actually fit together.

Earlier, you wanted --

Which Steve lets drop, or drift, for Danny to answer, and the thing is, Danny will. Has to. He's offered, already put his head on the chopping block, and Steve deserves it. The truth. The whole truth. "Yes."

Which isn't, and is an answer. Half-turning, now, to look at Steve, while his hand stays on the door, wary. "Earlier, I wanted. All of it. You. Everything I shouldn't want from you. Everything I know you don't --"

But all the words just stick in his throat, and he shakes his head, looking down, before he finds Steve's face again, waiting for the hammer to fall. "You're my best friend, and I love you."

In every way. With every part of himself. But those words, the way he's said them, have never been a lie, either. "But I let you down tonight."