Smother the Flame in Your Heart // Danny x Sam

Part IV

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Normally, Danny might find himself perturbed by the sound of the fluorescent lights overhead buzzing and flickering. The light might be too harsh and white, especially with the cavernous darkness outside the windows; the night around him always felt endless but, for once, Danny didn't mind that either. Sam's voice, his face, the way he talked so fluidly with his hands, the eye contact he kept whenever he took a sip of his drink–all of it made Danny sort of feel floaty and light, like nothing in his life was wrong at all. He didn't want to go back home and be alone again. He wanted to stay under those bright white lights with Sam forever.

When Danny bit into his cheeseburger, Sam, of course, with him not being able to look away from his date for longer than half a second, noticed the pink juice running down his chin. "I thought you didn't like animal blood," he noted, teasingly. He was successful, too–Danny smiled shyly before he dabbed at his mouth with a napkin.

"I've always liked my beef rare," Danny told him. He swiped a french fry through ketchup. "You know how in movies vampires never eat normal food? I'm so glad that's not me. Still got fucked over but, shit, at least I can still eat french fries."

Sam chuckled. He liked seeing Danny this way–relaxed. This was how it was always supposed to be, he felt, how Danny was always supposed to be. "You never told me one thing though–how does someone actually transform? You get bitten, okay, but something else has to happen."

"Yeah, true. I don't really know though," Danny told him. "I don't know if it's something inside of the bite or maybe it's just random. Like, more bad luck?" He shook his head, lifting the burger in his hands. "I honestly have no clue."

"You bit me once and nothing happened," Sam reminded him, twirling the straw in his ice water. "So maybe you're in the clear in terms of...being a carrier or whatever you wanna call it."

"I hope so. I hope nothing's ever happened to–" Danny stopped, abrupt onset of shame smacking him in the face again. But then he thought that he really could trust Sam, who'd never once shown or voiced any judgment, who looked at him with such unwavering reverence and affection. "I hope nothing's ever happened to anyone else I've bitten."

Sam made a point to flutter his eyelashes briefly as he rested his fist under his chin. "Am I the best you've ever had?"

The question made Danny serious. "Yeah, you are," he said, and just saying it made him feel like he could still taste Sam, not just taste fried and grilled food. His response made Sam blush and just the sight of his skin turning pink made Danny's mouth water. "But it's not just how you taste. I need you to know that. You're the best because you're you."

Sam smiled, shaking his head, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. "I can't believe we never met before, man. Don't you feel that connection? It's like it's meant to be." He'd never been one to fiercely subscribe to the idea of fate and destiny but he couldn't deny that meeting Danny felt profoundly cosmic.

"Yeah, I feel it, too," Danny said. He really did feel it–this intrinsic, steadfast tether between them. Like they'd known each other for years. Like for some reason, they were made to wait to meet but, now that they had, there was nothing that was going to tear them apart. It felt that way, absolutely, but Danny still had to acknowledge that enough anger and resentment–even confusion–could override even the strongest bonds sometimes.

Sam felt a little shy then, making him look away for real for the first time. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this way about anybody–Josh had been right. He'd never been so worked up over a boy but, more than that, over anyone at all. There was a magic about Danny that he couldn't get over. Inside that heart, even if Danny called himself "diseased," was a depth of patience and love that tempted Sam for more; in his eyes there was a profound knowing, like Danny constantly knew a hell of a lot more than he said. Like he always had some little secret. Sam wanted to be in on that secret.