Backpedaling, while Steve is, actually now, getting angry. Defensive. Pricked too close, maybe, and, okay, okay, okay, so maybe Danny needs to make all this clear. "I don't want that, okay, I don't want this, I don't want to fight with you about it, okay? I'm not trying to – it's not about them, okay?"
Even if it was. And Steve was right. And both of them made it work, and both of them were doing okay, and both of them were even happy, for a while. Everything Steve said he was. Goofy over Gabby. Stubborn about Amber, even when it turned out she was really Melissa. And Steve, there, helping him through it all, just like he tried to, with Cath. "Look, I know what it was like, I remember, alright? I just, I didn't know."
And maybe that's the crux of it. The thing that matters, the thing that keep catching him, why four years is so much worse than three.
He didn't know. Had no idea. That they could have been here, so long ago. That Steve felt even anything like this. That Steve felt like he had to hide it from him, and hid it so well that even once Danny realized, figured it out for himself, he still didn't have a damn clue that Steve had already been living with it for a year. Past Rachel. Walking Danny through his first post-Rachel relationship. Being there for absolutely everything else. While Grace loved him. And Danny depended on him.
Always at his back, and always faithful. Always the best friend and partner he'd ever had. "Look, I'm sorry."
He is. Sorry. For turning this into an argument. For that first year. For the three after, when he should have known, when if he'd known – "Okay?"
His hand, which had lifted to move without him even noticing, pauses, and then settles, a little cautiously, at the side of Steve's head. "I'm sorry."
no subject
"No, I just –"
Backpedaling, while Steve is, actually now, getting angry. Defensive. Pricked too close, maybe, and, okay, okay, okay, so maybe Danny needs to make all this clear. "I don't want that, okay, I don't want this, I don't want to fight with you about it, okay? I'm not trying to – it's not about them, okay?"
Even if it was. And Steve was right. And both of them made it work, and both of them were doing okay, and both of them were even happy, for a while. Everything Steve said he was. Goofy over Gabby. Stubborn about Amber, even when it turned out she was really Melissa. And Steve, there, helping him through it all, just like he tried to, with Cath. "Look, I know what it was like, I remember, alright? I just, I didn't know."
And maybe that's the crux of it. The thing that matters, the thing that keep catching him, why four years is so much worse than three.
He didn't know. Had no idea. That they could have been here, so long ago. That Steve felt even anything like this. That Steve felt like he had to hide it from him, and hid it so well that even once Danny realized, figured it out for himself, he still didn't have a damn clue that Steve had already been living with it for a year. Past Rachel. Walking Danny through his first post-Rachel relationship. Being there for absolutely everything else. While Grace loved him. And Danny depended on him.
Always at his back, and always faithful. Always the best friend and partner he'd ever had. "Look, I'm sorry."
He is. Sorry. For turning this into an argument. For that first year. For the three after, when he should have known, when if he'd known – "Okay?"
His hand, which had lifted to move without him even noticing, pauses, and then settles, a little cautiously, at the side of Steve's head. "I'm sorry."