“Wow, fucked up,” Danny said, not expecting that, but he went on anyway. “Okay, so in your studies to be Dr. Jason the pediatrician, I’m assuming you had emergency room training.”
“I interned.” Jason’s voice was softer than before, but he shook his head in denial. “I can’t care for your friend. I could lose my license.”
Danny waved Jason over. When he stepped forward obediently, Danny wrapped a hand around the base of his neck, tugging him forward and leaning down to speak to him. “Jason, look at me,” Danny demanded in a gentle but firm voice. When Jason complied, looking up at him, his eyes glassy once more, Danny went on, “I promise I will never betray you. Never.”
“Your friend—”
“He listens to me.” Danny stared into Jason’s eyes unblinkingly. “And he’s strong, very strong. We both are. We won’t cave. No one will know.”
Jason took a shuddering breath, obviously looking for sanity. “I can’t—”
“I didn’t mean who do I need to blow to keep my friend out of the psych ward,” Danny said slowly, raising his eyebrows deliberately. “I meant, who gets the privilege of blowing me.”
“You’d let me blow you?” Jason asked quickly, before a blush stained his cheeks and he pulled back.
“If you take care of my friend,” Danny went on, totally incredulous that this shit actually worked. “I might consider letting you blow me.”
Jason swallowed hard, looking down the hallway before he turned back to Danny. “How do I know I can trust you?”
“If you help me protect him,” Danny started in a voice choked with emotion despite his best attempts to hide it, knowing it was a show of weakness. “I’ll be your friend for life, and I don’t make that offer lightly. As you can see, there’s not much I won’t do to protect my friends.”
Jason considered him, his eyes narrowed. “How old are you?”
“I’m legal and I got a gorgeous cock. What else matters?” Danny asked in a bored voice. “Now tell me what you need me to do to help you take care of him.”
Jason took a deep breath, looking away for a moment as if trying to compose himself. “We need a place to take him.” He turned back to look at Danny petulantly. “You do have your own place, right? ’Cause this will be a little hard to explain to mommy and daddy.”
“I got my own place, smartass,” Danny growled. “And I don’t appreciate your tone, I really don’t.”
Jason ignored him, looking away once more. “I suppose he can be considered a patient. I don’t want to have to write him a prescription, but I can if I don’t have the right samples. He’s in college, right? What is he? A senior?”
“A junior.”
“Christ,” Jason groaned, his eyes closing in a show of misery. “I should not be doing this.”
“Do you need money?” Danny realized with a shock that he would ask his father for whatever this doctor needed. “I will pay you and I’ll pay for whatever he needs.”
“We’ll worry about that later,” Jason said, still appearing very uncomfortable. “You take him home. I’ll stop by the office and get some supplies and meet you there. I just need directions.”
“Okay,” Danny said, narrowing his eyes at Jason. “I’m trusting you to show up. “
Jason huffed, lifting his eyes to glare at Danny indignantly. “I will attempt to heal your friend, but if it gets to the point that I feel his life is truly in jeopardy, you have to agree to take him to the hospital. That’s the best I have to offer.”
“Works for me,” Danny said with a smile. “I really do appreciate this.”
“I’ve been watching your friend for months. I’ve never seen a sub draw Dommes to him like he does.” Jason gave Danny a calculating look. “If you’re the one he wants at the end of the day, when he can have anyone, I wanna find out why.”
Danny snorted, unable to believe the twisted turn his life had taken. He opened the door to Arty’s bedroom, desperate to get Paul back to his place, deciding he’d ponder Jason’s observations later.
*
Danny sat on the floor cross-legged, staring at Paul who had fallen asleep once they had gotten home. His knee bounced in nervousness and he longed for a cigarette, but he didn’t dare.
He didn’t dare do anything. Even breathing felt like a crime.
Dragging air in and out of his lungs seemed a thousand times harder when he sat there staring at Paul’s back, torn up like it was. This was Danny’s fault. He knew it with absolute certainty. If he hadn’t pushed Paul away he would have been in control of the situation and this would have never happened. Refusing Paul had caused more pain for both of them than anything they could find together.