Work Text:
"Now let your mind do the walking
And let my body do the talking"
-- "World in My Eyes" by Depeche Mode
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As Daniel Pendrell opened the door to his apartment, Michael bounced and sang softly, "...They put you in a box / And then they send you up to heaven, heaven..."
A more obscure selection than most, but Danny recognized the snippet as belonging to Virgin Prunes' "Baby Turns Blue." Danny grinned even as he wished he had that much energy. "You're bouncing so much you're giving me motion sickness."
"But I'm happy. I really liked that art exhibit."
"That's no reason to do a Tigger impression."
"But Tiggers are wonderful things. Besides, I'm your Tigger."
Michael scooped up the cat and started to dance to the music he heard in his head. Mr. Whiskers seemed to enjoy it, especially since Michael scratched her chin as he twirled and bounced her in his arms.
"...Ohhhhh! What to do? / What to be and who are yoooooou..."
Danny watched him and smiled. He couldn't imagine his life without the weekends with Michael. Michael took such a joy in the world that Danny loved to take him places just so he could see everything anew through his lover's enthusiasm. It challenged Danny to come up with a new movie, theater, museum, or park every week.
Not that staying home didn't have its advantages.
It amazed him that Michael still found him attractive... or something... four months later. Hell, it amazed Danny that this man had chosen him to begin with. Surely Michael--outgoing, tall, gorgeous, and a combustible mix of angel and demon in bed--could find another partner in seconds.
"I really did enjoy that exhibit. The statues and gilded prayer books especially. But I could have done without the rent-a-cops giving me the evil eye. The same thing happened when I visited the Cloisters in New York. Like I could hide a six-foot-tall medieval statue in my pocket. Being a Goth doesn't make me a magician."
"It didn't help when you got ticked off about it and started to loudly ask me how this or that would look in your den. Brat."
Michael just smirked and thrust his hips to his internal music in a way that made Daniel want to jump him immediately. "Wanna dance?"
"I don't know how." //And I don't want to look stupid.//
"I'll tell you a big secret. I can't dance either. In fact, only seven people in this world can actually dance. When a new dancer is born, one of the older ones dies."
"Oh, come on!"
"Just one of the mysteries of life. The rest of us can only move with the music and hope for the best. Dance with me."
"I'm not sure what song is playing in your odd brain."
"I'll make it easier for you." Michael put Mr. Whiskers down and flipped through Daniel's CDs with practiced ease, muttering under his breath about how he loved people who alphabetized their collection. He picked out then put back Depeche Mode's Songs of Faith and Devotion, saying that it described their relationship, but he wasn't in the mood for that album right now.
"You're cute as all hell, but can you just choose something already?"
Michael smirked knowingly, making himself look so much more like Agent Fox Mulder that Daniel caught his breath. Michael was one personality of several sharing that body, and Danny sometimes wondered, despite all of Michael's protests to the contrary, if the personality that ran the body the rest of the week called itself Fox Mulder. Danny wrestled back and forth with the idea, but wouldn't feel too bad if it turned out that Michael had lied. If he were Mulder and had such a problem, he wouldn't want anyone knowing about it either, not when it would put a giant black mark on his record and probably exclude him from jobs that came with any real authority or responsibilities.
So when Michael merely said that the primary personality worked in law enforcement--and that only because Danny had asked about his scars--Daniel didn't press the issue.
Michael put Depeche Mode's Violator into the CD player and pulled Danny into his arms. As usual, Danny felt ludicrously small next to him. "I'm too damned short." He inhaled Michael's spicy scent and couldn't help picking the orange cat hairs off of the black shirt that filled his vision. "World in My Eyes" started to pound behind him.
"No, I'm too damned tall. Want me to pick you up?"
"If you do, I'll kill you."
"Just trying to be nice. Loosen up. You can't think when you dance; you just move to the music any way you want." Michael started to twirl Daniel, then pulled him in close. Over the next few minutes Michael would spin him and bring him back again and again, leaving Danny, dizzy, laughing, and moving his feet along with the beat in self-defense.
Michael sang along with the band, and Danny, breathless, joined him as best he could. "...All the islands in the ocean / All the heavens in their motion / Let me show you the world in my eyes..."
Mr. Whiskers gave them a hard stare from her safe perch on the couch. Danny couldn't help laughing. //Probably beneath her dignity. Well, Wik, I'm not the one who drinks out of the toilet.//
Michael kept Daniel close now as they harmonized, "...That's all there is / Nothing more than you can touch now / That's all there is!..."
Lean muscle moved under Daniel's hands, and he melted into Michael's warmth. The long kiss that followed only left him feeling even more pleasantly lightheaded. Seeing no more advantage in staying upright, Daniel tripped Michael so they fell on the couch, to Mr. Whiskers' disgust. Once he had his victim pinned, Daniel ravished Michael with lips and hands. He would work his way up to the full treatment soon.
Once Michael got a chance to breathe, he grinned impishly and protested, "But you already know this dance! I know for a fact that you're really good at it."
"Show me again."
********************To Be Continued*********************
A message to my Not So Gentle Readers: Originally I planned for
this series to have 3 parts, with 1 and 2 showing Michael/Fox and
Pendrell connecting and the third (subtitled "Everything I Touch I
Break") dealing with Pendy's inevitable end. I had the plot for
"Everything..." worked out, but then the vignettes started to come
to me, and my beta readers, also Pendy fans, asked if I could keep
him alive a while longer.
So I'll wait to see if anything else comes to me, which means this
series may not end for a while and may have long gaps of time
where a new one doesn't come out. I don't know what number
"To Have..: Everything I Touch I Break" will be.
What do you think?