Smother the Flame in Your Heart // Danny x Sam

Part XVIII

Word Count: ~3400

Warnings: none

We're getting really close to a resolution for Jake, I promise!

—

Sam was always stunning and beautiful to Danny, but essentially living together for a number of days had revealed that, while still being stunning and beautiful, Sam was much more of a slob than he was. Dishes were left in the sink for far too long, he never made the bed, bags of snacks were left open and strewn about the apartment and Sam's clothes were even worse, just left dirty and thrown all over the place when Danny had a perfectly good hamper to toss it all in instead. He'd spent enough time with Sam to know that a certain amount of bad manners was to be expected–that was just how his beautiful boyfriend was. But, Danny theorized, it was the frustration, anger and sadness that had come along with this unresolved conflict with Sam's own brother–and, he was sure, Danny himself–that had exacerbated it.

"Sammy," Danny said gently, approaching his boyfriend, who was stretched out and nearly naked on the couch, a book in front of his face. "Could you do me a favor?"

Sam dropped the book just enough to peer up at him. "What is it?"

Danny opened his mouth again, ready to ask Sam to take care of the pile of dirty clothes that was crowding his bathroom. But he was a pushover–and totally whipped. "Can you scooch so I can sit with you?" was what he asked instead.

Sam smiled and thrust his legs out, making room, so Danny sat down in the newly freed space; Sam dropped his bare feet in Danny's lap and stretched, resting the book on his chest. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm okay," Danny said, dropping one hand to Sam's ankle and running it up his shin. "Are you okay? You seem...just a little off, I guess."

Sam looked off to the side with a sigh. "I'm fucking pissed, man." At least when he said it, there wasn't any real rage in his tone. "Every time Jake tries to talk to me, I remember everything I first felt and I feel it all over again."

"I wish I could help," Danny replied. He really did.

"You help." Sam looked at him and smiled a little, warmth returning to his face. "You always help. I don't know what I can do to help myself though."

After a moment of contemplation, Danny said, "It's like what we already established, right? It's not Jake's fault. It's not your fault. It's not my fault. It's all feelings, and feelings change."

Sam's lips pursed slightly as he was silent, then he rubbed the curve of one foot across Danny's thigh. "There are some feelings I don't want to change. Like how you feel about me."

"Those feelings could never change," Danny said, giving Sam's ankle a squeeze. "I hope your feelings for me never change."

"I'm not mad at you. I know you didn't do anything." Sam looked up to the ceiling, bringing a hand to the top of his head. "But I can't see how you and him can be friends anymore."

Danny's heart sank. He liked Jake a lot and really did want to remain friends with him–even become better friends. He understood Sam's jealousy, anger and wariness and wanted to argue through it, but that would be a losing battle. Maybe in time those feelings would change too, and things could go back to normal. Relatively speaking.

"You can't see it ever?" Danny asked.

Sam looked back at him. "I can't see it now. I know it makes me a dick, but like, if you guys ended up alone again–" He let out a groan and rolled onto his side. "I can't even think about it."

"Nothing would ever happen."

"I know. But he'd be thinking about it."

"Hey, I know this is a delicate matter. It's your brother," Danny said, running his hands in what was hopefully a soothing way over Sam's lower legs. "But don't you think that's also even more motivation to try and work things out?"