Silent Nights [Danny]

[Danny Bailey]

Danny didn't want to be pushed away, but he knew better than to protest (or even make a sound) when he was. Instead he just sat up straight, wrapping arms around his knees and hugging them to his chest. To keep himself from making another mistake, and to keep Oliver from getting all cute and making him feel so confused again. If the brunette were to tug him into his arms once more he'd melt all over the place and repeat the same mistake he'd just made.

"Sorry" He whispered it quietly, a slight tremor in his voice. He was so stupid. His brain was being evil, making him think it was a good idea to snog Oli when it was anything but! "I really thought.." Trailing off, he wondered how to end that sentence. Thought it had been a good idea? Thought that he'd heard his mum? Well the last was an obvious lie, and he was fairly sure the brunette had seen through that.

Mussing up his hair, he chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, casting a small sideways glance at the boy sat next to him. "So. Uh. How was your holiday so far?" He sincerely hoped he hadn't made it much worse by showing up without letting him know he'd be coming.

[Oliver Pace]

The rest of the day had been as horribly awkward as this moment was. Oliver had mumbled his way through any questions Danny had, and seemed to recover from this painful situation as best as he could, but he knew he'd screwed up. For once, things had seemed to be going somewhere positive for the brunette, but apparently, he just couldn't handle that. Mentally kicking himself, and physically itching to get away from the tense atmosphere in his room, he ended up somehow moving them both downstairs again. He figured that his mother's fussing was a lot better than silence.

The tall boy had no clue how they managed to get through the rest of the day, but somehow, he found himself making his way through his bed time routine, which really consisted of a shower, brushing his teeth and then going to bed. It was a strange experience, expecting to get in to bed and actually finding a small, adorable blonde boy already asleep in it. Danny looked so peaceful, he hadn't wanted to disturb him at first. So Oliver spent some time reading things, listening to music, watching the boy sleep until he felt like he couldn't hold himself up any more, and had to attempt to get some sleep, preferably in his own bed.

Unfortunately, the brunette's almost non existant sleeping pattern didn't want to let this happen. The proximity of the other boy probably only made things worse, as it put him on edge, and made it almost impossible for him not to want to touch him. Simply, it was going to be impossible for him to sleep tonight, and it'd probably stay like that until Danny left.

Still, he was well accustomed to this.

Like he had every other sleepless night he'd had in the past few years, Oliver peeled his fatigued limbs out of his bed once more. With more care than he'd usually put in to his movements (because he didn't want to wake up the Hufflepuff), he pulled on a shirt and a hoodie, and proceeded to clamber out of his window and on to the roof of his house. The first time he'd done this in England, he'd truly feared for his life. At home, it had seemed so much easier. Perhaps it was because he knew the place better, or (more likely) because falling from a bungalow didn't seem like it would hurt as much as falling from the first floor of this house did. He'd had to get used to it, though. His mother didn't approve of his smoking, and would definitely hurt him if he tried to do it in the house. Besides, it was peaceful up here. At least, outside of his mind. In there, he couldn't help wandering back to the blonde boy sleeping below him.

[Danny Bailey]

It really wasn't any surprise that he ended up with nightmares that night. The day had been horribly awkward, his mouth had threatened to run away with him several times as his brain came up with question after question just to keep some conversation going. They'd ended up going downstairs pretty quickly, which had made things so much worse. Instead of sitting at opposite ends of the bed they had to be smushed together on a couch, Oli's arm around his waist, or his head on the Ravenclaws shoulder, just to keep his mother from noticing anything. It seemed like they'd done a pretty good job, because she kept throwing soft looks in their direction, and he swore he could hear her go 'Aww' at least once.

The night had seemed to last forever, but finally they were allowed to go up to bed, and after a quick shower, Danny had put on some pajama pants and clambered into bed, hoping to fall asleep before anything even more awkward could ensue. Luckily, both the trip and the emotional rollercoaster he'd been on this entire day had worn him out, and he fell asleep before the brunette could even enter the room.

At some point during the night he woke up, a scream halfway stuck in his throat, heart hammering in his chest. He pressed a hand to his stomach that gave a threatening lurch, biting down on his lip hard enough to draw blood. He didn't want to scream and wake up...

Except he wouldn't, because as he looked next to him, the bed was empty. It sort of hurt in the strangest way for a moment, and he actually had to wipe at his eyes to get rid of the moisture there. Taking a deep breath - and ignoring his own sniffle - Danny slipped from underneath the covers, intent on finding the boy that could make this all better (and so much worse). A shiver running down his spine told him that the window was open, which it definitely hadn't been as he'd gone to bed.

Oli had told him once about spending nights up on the roof when he couldn't sleep, so his tired brain figured it was probably where he'd be now. Too far gone to care about the fact that he was only half dressed, beaten and bruised, and that it was the middle of winter, the blonde boy climbed up to where his darkhaired friend was sitting, not even noticing the cold sting of snow on his feet.

In silence, he just lowered himself next to Oliver, and after a moment, rested his head on top of the boys shoulder again.

[Oliver Pace]

Oliver was completely lost in his own thoughts. Staring off in to the night sky, he couldn't stop thinking about the damn blonde boy, currently (at least, he thought) asleep below him, in his bed. The more he thought about it, the less he could understand why on Earth he wasn't there too. Because, as much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't deny that that was exactly where he wanted to be. In fact, since Danny had turned up, Oliver had found it progressively harder to deny anything when it came to the smaller boy.

Before now, the brunette had just about been able to convince himself that he didn't feel anything for the other man. Now, though... it was so damn hard to have him around so much, like this, and still ignore everything. He was too close, too sweet and too... present. At least at Hogwarts, Oliver had been able to spend ages away from the other, and give himself a chance to recover and rebuild everything he'd built in his mind. Now, he couldn't breathe without breathing in his scent. He couldn't move without being in touching distance of the man. He couldn't even wake up without looking straight in to that face...

And part of Oliver was giving in. He didn't want to be miserable, and keep upsetting the blonde like that. If only it was that easy for him to just let Danny in... and if only he wasn't so destructive with his words. Every time he opened his mouth, something stupid would come out of it. Though, he'd said plenty of stupid things to the other already, and he was still here, wasn't he? Perhaps there was a chance.

But Oliver Pace, in his own mind, wasn't safe to be in love with, because it had and would always go wrong. And then there was the thought that this was Evan Daniel Bailey he was thinking about. He didn't need to be assured any more, the taller boy knew that the blonde wasn't as much of a whore as (some) people made him out to be... But the fact was, he was beautiful, and sweet, and loveable. Why would someone that special even think about Oliver that way? It didn't make sense to him.

Evan caught the boy in quite a vulnerable moment, and as the head on his shoulder made the taller of the two suddenly aware of the other's presence, he jumped slightly. He managed to recover quickly, and instinctively wrapped his free arm around the boy's shoulders, cigarette still burning away in the other hand. How he'd known to find him up here, Oliver would never know, but he was slightly glad he did. As well as slightly shocked that he'd decided to come out in the middle of winter without a top.

”Aren't you cold, love?” He mumbled quietly, green eyes flickering down to look at Danny, who honestly looked tiny in this light. Still beautiful, nonetheless. And... strangely battered. The brunette's heart, already beating irregularly due to the sudden closeness of the other, clenched slightly. He remembered Danny saying something about his father taking things out on him, but he wasn't aware it was this bad. His eyes moved back up to meet those blue ones, a questioning, concerned look spread over his face. Switching his smoking hand, he stroked the boy's cheek softly with the back of his hand, then ran his fingers over the boy's bruises gently. ”What happened?”

(TIRED AND LONG. ; D)

[Danny Bailey]

Unaware of the beautiful boys turmoil (after all, why would he even consider the possibility that Oliver wanted him? He'd made it clear before that even if that were the case, it would never change anything) Danny rested his body against him, comfortable with the others arm around his shoulders. It was rather cold, in fact, it was freezing, but the warmth spreading from another body felt too good to replace by anything else.

Except maybe those fingers on his skin, the brush of a hand on his face. The blonde almost sighed in contentment when he was touched so softly (reverently his stupid mind insisted), and it was just barely topped by the fact that Oliver had called him love. Was this some left-over cuddliness from their afternoon trapped together in the presence of Oli's mum? Or was he doing this because, Merlin forbid, he wanted to?

Oliver had the uncanny and annoying ability to make anything that remotely sounded like a lie impossible to speak, so really, Danny had no option but to speak the truth, no matter how much he loathed to speak about any of this. Starting with the easier question though, he just nodded when the brunette asked if he was cold, and, as a more definitive answer, snuggled closer to the boy next to him. He really should've thought to bring a hoodie or something up with him, but then he wouldn't get to be so close, so he'd gladly suffer the cold.

"Dad's always miserable during the holidays. Especially Christmas since it's the first holiday we ever had to spend without her. And me being there...being so much like my mum, it makes it harder." He wasn't making excuses for his father, but that's how it was. When he was at school, when they didn't spend hours and days and weeks together, it happened much less and was definitely much less severe.

Thinking about the whole week he'd spent at home, only to practically run to Hogwarts when he was allowed, made him sigh a little. This had definitely been the better option, but he'd been terrified of actually showing up, the possibility of being sent home too much to bear for the longest time. "I tried protecting my face instead of my body, that's why it's worse than usual. I didn't want to show here and make your mum think I'd been in some street fight or something."

The last thing he wanted was for the lovely Michaela Pace to think that he was some hoodlum that would drive her son off the right track, not when he was already struggling to keep his life in order as it was. "It wasn't just him though. There was some kid, at school. Said he'd had problems with his girl, that he knew I could fix them. Didn't like it when I told him no." He was proud of himself though, for turning down someone instead of doing what he was so used to doing. He just hoped Oli would be too.