FicWad

Disclaimer: This never happened. Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones are two names I have stolen to create a silly little story. Don't sue.
Rating: Eventually NC-17
Night and Day 2/20
"I was a hum drum person, leading a life apart, then love flew in through my window wide and quickened my humdrum heart." What is This Thing Called Love, written by Cole Porter
Darren came home by eleven-thirty that evening, sure that his wife would be home. He took his trench coat and hat off and went to her room, smiling at her. "Hello, angel."
"Good evening, darling," Colby Taylor-Hayes smiled from her bed. "You're home early this evening. Did you have a good time?"
"Yes," Darren kissed her cheek. "And you?"
"An absolutely glorious time," she stroked his cheek. "Any luck?"
Darren laughed. "My dear girl, you are forward!"
"Well, I have a gentleman friend, and since we came back from Paris a month ago, you haven't had anyone. I don't think it's fair."
"Yes, but you are in love with your gentleman friend, and I have yet to fall in love. Or at least, I hadn't fallen in love until this evening," Darren began getting undressed, taking off his tie and shirt to reveal a rather nice body.
"So there was some luck! Oh, darling, I am happy for you! What is he like?"
"Darling, I don't want to curse it," he kissed her forehead. "Is there anything coming up I need to worry about?"
"I'm throwing my friend Kathleen an engagement party," Colby went back to her book, her bobbed blond hair falling in her face slightly. "That is the day after tomorrow, so please be sure to be there. We were in Paris when she returned from abroad with her fiance. She speaks of nothing else, though I don't think her father approves."
"Day after tomorrow?" Darren groaned.
"Yes, darling, I told you yesterday about it. I swear, if I didn't remind you every three seconds, you'd forget your own name."
Darren sighed and nodded. "All right, Colby my dear, I'll be there. Good night." He walked back to his room and fell against the door, suddenly wanting Daniel's lips on his entire body.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, Daniel walked to his fiance's house, still thinking about Darren, as he had the entire night. Darren Hayes. A man with a history, quite obviously. But with the most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen. And a wonderful smile. Never in his life had Daniel met a man who was so obvious with his interests and intentions, but it was comforting to know he did not have to worry about whether or not Darren's interests were the same as his own, because the man had made it more than obvious. "Hello, Daniel, darling!" Kathleen de Leon came running towards him. Kathleen looked much younger than her twenty-six years with her girlish face and newly-bobbed dark brown hair. Her brown eyes shown with happiness as she held out her hand for him to kiss.
"Good morning, sweet girl," he kissed her hand and then pulled her close. "When can I really kiss you, Katie, my girl?"
She laughed. "Daniel, you know it's not acceptable. We are not married yet."
"But times are changing, here, Kathleen, why, just last night I played at a petting party. Do you know what that is?"
"Of course I know what a petting party is, Daniel. And I think they are absolutely vile. I think I liked it much more when women understood their places in society. We get the vote and suddenly think we can just pounce around without escorts and drink and smoke and go to petting parties."
Daniel silenced at that moment, upset that Kathleen had changed so much since they had returned from Australia. While there, Kathleen had drank and let him kiss her, touch her. But then, not even that had satisfied his urge for men. And yet, it still did not make sense to him why his fiancee was so old-fashioned. She only wore the new styles because she was often seen in public, but her attitudes were excruciatingly turn of the century. "Daniel, darling, are you listening?"
"I'm sorry, dear. I'm just a little tired."
"I was saying tomorrow evening there is a party we have to attend. My friend Colby is throwing an engagement party for us."
Daniel felt his stomach drop. His hand in his pocket closed around the key Darren Hayes had given him. "Tomorrow evening?"
"Yes, Daniel. And you are coming. Cancel whatever engagement you have."
"Of course I'll be there, Katie. Now, what am I doing today?"
"I do believe Mother wants to see you about your dinner suit. Go now, Daniel. I'll talk to you later."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day seemed too long as Mrs. de Leon went on and on about teaching Daniel proper ethics and manners and the whatnot. But finally, after dinner, he took his coat, bid the de Leons good evening, and then ran to The Star. He didn't even take off his coat when he saw Darren and ran to him. Darren turned to him and smiled. "Danny boy, I was hoping you'd come tonight."
"I have a social engagement tomorrow," they both said at exactly the same moment.
Darren laughed. "Well, isn't that nice. We both have absolutely boring parties to attend. What sort of party are you going to, Danny boy?"
"An engagement party. And you, Dare?"
"Dare," Darren spoke the name slowly. "Very nice, Danny boy. I also have an engagement party to attend. My silly wife is throwing a party for her friend, Kathleen, who found the love of her life abroad. A rather romantic story, but I'd rather be with you than go."
"Your wife?" Daniel felt the room start to spin. "Her friend, Kathleen?"
And realization suddenly dawned on Darren. "Danny, my boy, what is your fiancee's name?"
"Kathleen de Leon."
"Oh Christ," Darren started to laugh. "Bill, I'm going to need a scotch please. Just straight." The bartender set the drink in front of Darren and the dark-haired man continued his laughter. "Well, Danny, this is classic."
"What will we do, Darren?" Daniel ordered himself his whiskey sour. "I don't know what to do."
"Danny, you need to compose yourself. In London, I acted for a bit. I was rather good, if I may say so myself, and this will just be another part I play. I must act as if I have never laid eyes on you. And you must do the same, my boy."
Daniel ran his fingers through his blond hair. "But I still want to be with you. I mean, I want to see you tomorrow evening. I missed you today, Dare."
Darren stroked Daniel's cheek. "And I missed you, Danny. Tomorrow, after the party, we'll walk our respective women home and then you can meet me in the hotel room. You still have the key?"
"Yes."
"Excellent," Darren smiled. "Now, Daniel, why don't you tell me a little more about yourself?"
Daniel shrugged. "There's not much to tell."
"Well, let's start with simply, how old are you?"
"Thirty."
"And do you have any family?"
Daniel shook his head. "No."
"And how many male lovers have you had, Daniel?"
"A few."
"Daniel, my darling, I thought we had gotten past the silence. You certainly were not very shy last night when you kissed me."
"I am never shy sexually."
"Only in conversation?"
Daniel shrugged. "I suppose. And, well, don't you ever worry that you'll be seen or noticed?"
Darren laughed. "I was afraid before I told Colby about my interests. If someone saw me, they'd tell her and she'd laugh. She knows. Everyone knows. I'm not worried about it."
"I am."
"Okay, darling, go. I'll see you tomorrow evening," Darren reached up and kissed Daniel very lightly on his lips. "I could fall in love with you, Danny boy. Just so you know."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next evening, Daniel found himself in a dinner suit. He felt extremely uncomfortable and found himself missing his daytime wear. Kathleen wore a black silk evening gown that hung loosely on her body, hiding her feminine curves and black gloves. She looked lovely, but at the same time, Daniel wanted to see Darren more than his own fiancee. "Darling," Kathleen smiled, "remember, smile and be friendly. Many of these people have never met you. This is what Mother and I have been working on."
Daniel nodded and found himself being led into a large room that was lit up and had thousands of people. He wanted to run out of there, he wanted to tell Kathleen this wasn't what he wanted and then run. The men seemed to conduct themselves with some sort of grace and the women all smiled and looked absolutely gorgeous. He had been to several lower class parties since coming to New York, and those parties had had men who joked with each other, and women who were not shy with their feelings. Those were his types of parties, the parties where he was hardly noticed because couples were too busy doing the inappropriate things he was not allowed to do with Kathleen. He found himself wondering if there were any of those parties for people like him and Darren and if Darren would ever go to one. His hand squeezed the key in his pocket and he felt a rush of excitement. Tonight would begin the first of many nights of courting Darren Hayes.
"Daniel, darling, I want you to meet the hosts of tonights party, Darren and Colby Hayes," Kathleen's voice cut into his daydreams of petting Darren.
"Finally, we meet the elusive Daniel Jones," the tall blond woman said. She was dressed in a dark blue silk gown and had what looked like diamonds in her short bobbed hair. Darren's wife. "It's wonderful to meet you, Daniel. Are you enjoying the States?"
Daniel shrugged. "The States are a bit loud, don't you think?"
Colby laughed. "I can't help but agree with you, my dear. Of course, Darren and I love noise, don't we, darling?"
Darren nodded, his blue eyes staring into Daniel's. His navy suit fit loosely on him, making him look a bit younger than he actually was. "I love America. England was such a stuffy country. I'm Darren, by the way, Colby's manservant."
Colby laughed. "Don't listen to him, Daniel, I sent him on errands today and he still hasn't forgiven me."
"Well, we do have maids to do those sort of things for you," Darren laughed. "But no matter. Daniel, how about we get these lovely ladies something to drink? Nothing with alcohol, of course, our wonderful government has decided the drink will corrupt us all."
They left Colby and Kathleen to talk and Darren led Daniel to the punch bowl. "You look absolutely ravishing, Danny boy," Darren whispered. "I wish I could have been more friendly to you, but we don't know each other, remember?"
"Colby is beautiful."
Darren sighed, "Yes, I know. It's a pity really. She's an inspiration to me, so wonderful and beautiful. But I have never loved her in that way, you understand? She has her own lover, a wonderful man we've had over and I approve of him. He treats her like a queen while I'm simply the man she goes out with. I once told her I was simply her little English lap dog. Nothing more. These idiots love the accent and all. But I'd rather be with you in my hotel room, falling in love."
Daniel squirmed. "I can't wait, Darren."
"You can and will," Darren smiled. "Now, let the show continue. I want to see how well Kathleen has done with your training."
"Training?"
"Daniel, my boy, you are about to become her Australian lap dog. Trust me on that one."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The party went reasonably well. Daniel was shuffled all over the room, introduced and forced to make small talk. Darren rarely spoke to him, but often made eye contact across the room, giving Daniel strength to survive the rest of the evening.
But finally, it was over, and while Daniel walked Kathleen home, Colby went upstairs, calling to Darren to follow her. "You're going to him tonight?"
"Yes," Darren nodded.
"Darren, Kathleen loves him. Don't do this. You should know better."
Darren laughed. "Colby, your Mr. Smith is married. Don't tell me I should know better."
"My Mr. Smith has informed his wife about me. Will Daniel tell Kathleen about you?"
"No."
"Oh, Darren, please, please find someone else. He's not worth the trouble."
"Colby, I've only known him for a little while, but I'm already in love with him. He's an incredible human being. Silent, but strong. I'm not letting go."
"Fine," Colby kissed his cheek, "then be careful."
TBC