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[img]https://i.imgur.com/dbjn5DE.png[/img]
[color=silver][b]December 4, 2016, The Streets[/b][/color]
[sub]A [@metanoia] & [@LovelyComplex] Collaboration [color=silver]||[/color] Featuring [color=005D9E]Danny Belmonte[/color] & [color=B8860B]Marco Brady[/color][/sub]
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As scary as ReyRey seemed, Danny was too drunk to process anything he was saying. When Marco went to retrieve his coat, the young jock wondered if they could stop and get some food somewhere. He was kind of hungry. Was anything even open? Since being drunk wasn’t really something Danilo was used to, the best parts of his brian, which were minimal to say the least, had turned completely off. Unbeknownst to him, the rest of the night would be led by a fool and the next morning, he would not remember anything. 

Nothing. Nada. Zip.  

After thinking about greasy diner food his mind went to the fading music and how he didn’t get to dance. Weren’t parties supposed to have dancing? Why did it all stop? He could’ve gotten a pretty girl and showed off how smooth he was. He could’ve become like an uncoiling rope, one with the music, one with the girl, and let the adrenaline shoot up his veins like some hardcore drug he’d never experienced before. He missed the part where people were feeding off each other’s energies… he got too caught up with impressing his team that he had forgotten to have fun. 

Sucks, man. 

In his stupor, deep in thought, Danny hadn’t realized he already left the party house and beside him was the boy he randomly befriended tonight. Trying his best to push all the negative thoughts aside, he threw his arm around his new friend, dropping a lot of his weight on him, but also pulling the acquaintance close, as they walked down the sidewalk. [color=005d9e]“Did I ever ask you your name? I feel like if I did I would know what to call you right now… the name’s Danny! Well, Danilo. But pleeeeeeaseeeee, call me Danny. You probably knew that already because I was [i]great[/i] tonight. You said it yourself! I was [i]great[/i]. I like being [i]great[/i].”[/color] 

[color=b8860b]“Oh yeah! You definitely were!”[/color] Marco said in a sudden rush of excitement when he was pulled close to Danny. 

He didn’t know if it was his lack of muscle on his own body or if Danny was just physically stronger than him or if being so close to Danny in general made him physically weak from...whatever it was that he might be feeling at this moment, Marco let it happen and now he found himself trying to support the full weight of this boy who smelled awfully a lot like the top shelf booze that he remembered his Granpappy always kept when he lived in Ireland for a time. He didn’t know why he thought of his Granpappy Sheamus, but the fact that the scent was the same made Marco smile.

Grunting, Marco yanked on Danny’s arm as he struggled to keep both of them up. [color=b8860b]“You totally killed it out there tonight!”[/color] Somehow he said that without a gut-punching grunt in-between.

There were a lot of compliments thrown at him which put a goofy grin on the freshman jock’s face and then he blinked a couple of times, realizing he still did not know a name. How could he be friends with someone with no name?! Well, Danny could always give him a nickname. A nickname. His acquaintance was small, kind of energetic, and cute. 

Cute like a… 

[color=005d9e]“Puppy!”[/color] Danny shouted out, deciding this was good to do so in his drunken state, which probably sounded like he saw a dog from afar, but really, he was referring to the boy holding him up. [color=005d9e]“Besides X-Men, what else do you like? I like strawberries.”[/color]  Seeing a stop sign, Danny let go of the boy and latched onto the pole and started spinning around it like a kid. [color=005d9e]“Strawberry milk. Strawberry shortcake. Strawberry fields foreverrrrrrr. Do you know Cece? Or, uh, Caitlin Cleary? She makes the bestest strawberry cupcakes. Oh man, the more I think about them the more I want to eat…”[/color]

[color=b8860b]”Uhm…”[/color] 

Marco looked at Danny with a confused expression as he hugged the pole the stop sign was drilled to and how he went on about his fondness of strawberries. That wasn’t why he was scratching his head like he was right now and it certainly wasn’t why he took a few glances behind him to see if anyone else was around.

There wasn’t.

But that seemed to help the feeling go away. Truth was, as much as he was enjoying spending time with Danny and probably would have been filled with nerves about what to say, Marco was clueless on what to say while the star athlete of today’s game against Pinehurst was acting like...well like how he was right now. [color=b8860b]”Yeah, I know CeCe. She was, uh, the first person I met and became friends with…”[/color] It was strange because Marco, as well as his family, had fit in so well with the town and everyone seemed to love his parents, that it was strange he had only been living here for less than half a year. And as much as he felt anxious around Danny (for different reasons than he had in the past), he was now thinking about Cece's cupcakes. [color=b8860b]”I have actually tasted her cupcakes. They’re quite yummy!”[/color] For some reason, Marco patted his stomach for emphasis.

[color=005d9e]“Cece forgot me today,”[/color] Danny’s demeanor became somber as he let go of the pole only to tumble backward on his feet. Oh man, he drank way too much tonight. With hardly any body fat to store his alcohol, Danny could feel he was past the point of no return. He was truly and deeply feeling it. 

Looking around him, he searched for a frosted looking grass patch and found himself dramatically dropping on the ground, laying backwards and staring up at the starry night. [color=005d9e]“It’s kinda’ crazy, huh? You grow up with people, you go through so much with these same faces, and then you think… wow, one day, I’m going to have to graduate and become a star, like my parents want me to be.”[/color] 

[color=b8860b]”Uhh, maybe we should—”[/color]

With loose lips and no restraints, Danny got lost in his thoughts, on someone’s lawn, in the cold, with this boy he barely knew, [color=005d9e]“I know it’s too early to think that far ahead, but don’t you just wonder… what if all these faces start to disappear? Life continues to move and I just want it to stop, right here, right now. In time. I don’t want to grow up.”[/color] 

What seemed like one of those ‘against your better judgement’ moments, Marco took a seat next to a laid out Danny. 

God, the grass was cold. And of course it was because it was winter. In Massachusetts. Why on earth was he not trying to help Danny up? Maybe because he didn’t feel like that’d be an okay thing to do while he was talking and some of the things he said. They felt foreign to Marco. He never thought of those things. Never thought about the day his parents would never be around or that he’d never see people he went to high school with. And maybe he was confused why Danny was. 

[color=b8860b]“I guess I never really thought about it.”[/color] Marco would say after a few moments of silence and trying to figure out what he could say. [color=b8860b]“I figured that if my friends go away, I’ll see them again soon. You know, kinda like how we grew out of our playing-with-our-toys phase when we were younger—” [i]You say that as if you’re out of that phase..[/i] “—And you develop other interests and play with other things that are better suited for us. But like, at some point, you might find yourself wanting to go to a toy store and indulge in the latest X-Men figure with the money you saved up from your allowance.”[/color]

[color=005d9e]“You really like X-Men, huh?”[/color] Danny found himself no longer laying down. He didn’t know when his position changed, but he was now sitting up, as he intently listened to Puppy. Getting closer and closer to the back of Marco’s head, as if the Leaning Tower of Pisa was [i]actually[/i] falling, Danny went forward and rested his forehead on the geek’s back, [color=005d9e]“You’re very optimistic.”[/color] [i]And smell nice.[/i] [color=005d9e]“You know that right?”[/color] 

When Marco felt the touch of Danny’s forehead on his back, there was a rush of adrenaline that made him jerk his entire body slightly that was almost immediately followed by a foreign hotness coming over his cheeks. And when he complimented him, Marco didn’t know what else to say than [color=b8860b]“y-yeah, I know--”[/color] as if it explained why he was like that. [color=b8860b]“I mean, I guess, like, I don’t know it’s just who I am. I’ve always been a lot more hopeful than most in my family.”[/color]  Thinking about it, Marco hadn’t realized that he was literally the [i]only[/i] one who was like this. Between him and his younger siblings, he was the only one that didn’t see the bad of any situation. 

Danny’s head felt foggy, the alcohol having taken him to oblivion. His eye lashes weighed more than they should and gravity was pushing him into a sweet, drowsy dream. Absentmindedly, he nuzzled his face to the warmth in front of him. His chest rose and fell to the sedative lullaby of the night. His breathing was calm, gentle, and [i]close[/i]. He felt at peace, even if other people in the town of Edenridge were not. Danilo Belmonte had fallen asleep and it felt good. For once, he could relax and be himself, with this boy he barely knew.

And as Marco looked over, he didn’t pay Danny any mind because he seemed like he was just resting his eyes at first.

Yeah, [i]at first[/i].

But then a minute went by and Marco grew concerned on the face as he turned around, shaking Danny as he tried to shake and wake him. When the first, albeit gentle, attempt produced no results, Marco tried again, this time he went faster and started to exert whatever pathetic strength he had in him. 

And still there was nothing. 

And Marco’s concern increased still.

He grabbed the larger boy’s shirt and tried to raise him up, but if you have ever lifted a hundred and something pounds of dead weight with a shockingly low amount of muscle (and in the cold at that), then you might be able to understand Marco’s difficulties. His lack of strength wasn’t the only issue because it was butt-freezing outside and the fact that Danny was asleep spelled bad things for both of them if he couldn’t think of a way to lift the soundly asleep hunk.

[color=b8860b]“Yes yes, he’s very cute sleeping like that. And this is the most you’ve spent with him since you started to drool over him. But this is [i]not[/i] the time for that.”[/color]

And of course, Marco considered that it was next to impossible that he would be able to lift him up. 

[color=b8860b]“But ma didn’t raise a quitter--”[/color] Marco stopped himself with both a lightbulb-over-the-head-worthy idea as well as a frightening realization. [color=b8860b]“Ma. She could help. But is it really that bad that I’m left with no outcome but to call her?”[/color]

Marco stood up, brushing the cold grass blades off of his pants and looked down at sleeping beauty. On one hand, maybe if Marco really dug deep, he might be able to drag this boy the few blocks it was to his house. But on the off chance that he collapsed from the overexertion of what remained of his physical strength, or ya know, he died form hypothermia, there was the other hand to consider.

Calling his mother.

Both presented a scenario Marco wasn’t keen on experiencing. The latter would expose Marco’s interesting situation to his mother and the former meant they’d both probably die.

[color=b8860b]“God, why did this have to happen? Why couldn’t Kylee just let me gawk from afar?”[/color] He shook head and decided that one problem was enough for him.

As he stepped onto the sidewalk, there was a tense, almost dramatic moment that led up to Marco pulling out his phone from his jacket pocket. With a deep breath, he called his mother. And as the dial tone ended, he didn’t hesitate. [color=b8860b]“Ma? Yeah, it’s me. Listen, can you come pick me up? Oh, where am I? Uhh…”[/color] Marco put his hand over the bottom of it and whispered a Catholic prayer to himself. [color=b8860b]“I’m about three or so blocks away from the house. Ya can’t miss me. I’m on the sidewalk with sleeping beauty.”[/color]
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