After Equus II, Gary/Daniel, PG-13
Feb. 24th, 2012 11:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
traintracksTitle: After Equus II: Cast Party
Author:traintracks
Pairing/Characters: Gary/Daniel, Emma, Alan, Rupert, Tom, Maggie, James, Oliver, Matthew, Ralph (all fictionalized, of course).
Rating: PG-13
Summary: At the belated cast party for OotP, Emma notices something different about Gary and Daniel. Follows "After Equus" in which Gary and Daniel start seeing each other after opening night of the show. Find the first story (NC-17) here: http://traintracks.dreamwidth.org/364.html
Warnings: RPS. This is so very not real! Also, Alan Rickman dances really badly.
Words: 3,675
The winter had been brutal, so they’d decided to just wrap on Order and have a cast party in the Spring when they’d had a chance to miss one another at least a little bit.
Emma arrived at the bar in Bloomsbury shortly after nine, the party having been scheduled for eight. She was a quite punctual person, so it was difficult to make herself late. She’d arrived at eight forty-five, actually, and had driven around the block a few times.
She was grateful Ernie’s was the chosen spot. It was not ostentatious in the least, and being situated in the literary district of the city, it seemed a fine place to hold a party for people playing characters in a book. The press had not been notified, but Emma knew to expect one or two particularly astute reporters with their cameras outside. She gave a little smile and a wave on her way in and was then surprised at how homey it felt inside. She recognized practically everyone in the dimly lit room.
Tom and Rupert were already socked away in a corner booth laughing over their beers. Emma made her way over to their table, waving at Rickman and Ralph on the way. Ralph told her – well, frankly he yelled, since he was clear across the room – that she looked hot. She curtsied and blushed. Truth be told, she’d had a bit of a crush on him ever since Quiz Show. Or ever since she’d seen it at any rate.
Rupert raised his beer to her as she approached, and Tom stood up and gave her a warm hug.
They got the how’ve you beens out of the way, and she ordered a white wine.
“Who else is coming?” she asked the boys.
“Most everybody, I think,” Tom offered. He listed them off on his fingers. “Maggie, Helena… Matthew’s already over there with James and Oliver.”
“Oh, lovely,” she said.
“And here comes Dan with Gary now,” Rupert added, nodding toward the door.
Emma sipped her wine and watched them enter. They were laughing, continuing a conversation they’d already been having, which meant that they’d come together, not separately. Emma took a deep breath watching them. The signs were still there. Maybe more so. It was hard to tell since they hadn’t seen one another for a few months. Except that it looked like Daniel and Gary had been seeing each other. Perhaps in every sense of that phrase. She’d suspected for nearly a year. She often wondered if she was the only one.
“Em, watch you don’t fall out of the booth, will you,” Rupert said. “Why don’t we just call them over rather than you sending your greeting psychically.” He whistled and Tom called out, “Potter!” trying for malicious yet not really pulling it off with a bit of alcohol in him.
Daniel waved. Emma watched Gary take his coat for him, slipping it off Daniel’s shoulders and giving him a wink before Daniel headed their way. Gary tilted his head toward the bar, and Daniel nodded, then he was walking over, smiling hugely, looking refreshed from the break – looking extraordinarily happy, in fact.
“Hey!” he greeted, hugging Tom and patting him heartily on the back.
Rupert was in the corner, unable to get out, so Daniel just reached over and ruffled his hair. “Bugger off,” Rupert laughed.
“Em,” Daniel said softly, hugging her with less enthusiasm than Tom but taking the time to plant a tender kiss on her cheek as well. He sat down next to her. It seemed his eyes went straight to the bar. To Gary. Emma watched Daniel watching him order their drinks.
“How’ve you been, mate?” Rupert asked.
“Splendid,” Daniel breathed, as though he had run to the bar and was still a bit winded yet happy about it. His cheeks were pink and his eyes bright. “All of you?”
The boys took turns telling their stories of the break. Rupert had started dating Christie from make-up, but she was at her mother’s tonight for a birthday. Tom had gotten three new scripts in the mail. Emma listened, her chin in her hand. It was good to see them again, to hear their voices and not have to worry about remembering lines or having three hours with the tutor after blocking or any of the work part of their relationships.
As she listened, she realized that Daniel was just listening, too. He seemed content to let Rupe and Tom hog the conversation spot-light. As they argued good-naturedly over the relative merits of this or that actor, Daniel caught her looking at him. He gave her a private smile. He kissed her on the cheek again.
“So good to see you, Em,” he told her quietly.
“You, too,” she told him. “Daniel,” she then started, though she wasn’t exactly sure how she might phrase it: “Boffed any hot older actors lately? You and Gary been getting it on nicely? Are you both mad? Are you both happy enough that the mad part doesn’t matter? Am *I* mad?” She was saved from having to figure it out by a very loud-mouthed Tom.
He pointed with his beer hand at Daniel, sloshing some over the side onto the table. “Hey! I saw your dangly bits on the Internet!”
And it was at that moment, too, that Gary arrived at their table with their drinks.
“Oldman!” Rupert erupted. Tom, likewise, looked ready to tackle him like a drunken linebacker. It was true that seemingly the entire cast, at least the young ones, sported a kind of infatuated idolization with Gary. Everyone greatly respected his career and his acting, and the reaction to him faulted from shy nervousness to enthusiastic overcompensation, which Rupe and Tom were both engaged in at the moment. Tom, at least, let Gary put the drinks down before giving him a huge, undignified hug which Gary suffered cordially. Rupert actually stood up in the booth to shake his hand across the table.
“Sit down, you monkey,” Emma hissed at him.
“Boys,” Gary greeted warmly. “How are you?” Then he turned to Emma and took her hand, reaching over Daniel to do so. “Ms. Watson. Charmed to see you tonight. You look ravishing.” He kissed her knuckles, and his lips were moist and hot.
“Mr. Oldman,” she greeted with a blush.
When he’d finished greeting them all, he nudged Daniel’s drink over in front of him with a crooked smile, then he sat down across from him next to Tom who scooted over to make room for him so violently that he rammed into Rupert while he was taking a drink and barely missed sending it all down his front.
“Bloody hell, Felton,” Rupert groused.
Neither Gary nor Daniel seemed to notice. They were ever-so-subtly smiling at each other across the table.
Tom remembered his train of thought mid-drink. “Mm!” he swallowed. “So we were talking about your naked thingie, right?”
Daniel smiled and dropped his eyes. “Yes, I suppose,” he said, nodding.
“I’m sorry I missed the play,” Tom told him sincerely. “I’m catching it in New York, though.”
“Brilliant,” Daniel replied.
“I saw it,” Rupert chimed in. “Your arse is WHITE, mate.”
“Well, I am English, you git,” Daniel retorted. He took a sip of his whiskey.
“But seriously, mate, you were fan-bloody-tastic. I was floored. Really.”
“Thanks, Rupe.”
“Oldman, did you go to the show?”
Gary answered from behind his glass, ready to sip. “I did.”
“And what did you think?”
“I think his arse is very white, yes,” Gary answered.
The boys erupted with laughter. Emma noticed that Daniel kicked Gary’s foot under the table. “Prick,” he said under his breath, but there was absolutely zero rancor in it. His gaze was soft and alight with pleasure, actually.
Gary went on, “I also think he was wonderful.”
Daniel smirked at him. “You’re forgiven.”
Tom and Rupert seemed oblivious, but for Emma, the tenderness in those two words settled it. She felt a stream of competing emotions – shock, giddiness, excitement, fear, and oddly, sadness. They were doing it. They simply *had* to be doing it. But no one knew. I mean, obviously they wouldn’t be telling anyone. Emma thought about how easily Rupe had talked about Christie, and yet here were two of his best friends, telling no one anything, sharing nothing. She was suddenly angry at both Rupert and Tom for being such obtuse idiots. She drank her wine down in two long gulps.
The waiter came over for drink orders, and then everyone talked about Dan’s bum for a while longer. When that avenue ran a deadend (and Emma didn’t miss that Gary subtly steered the discussion elsewhere), everyone told their various and sundry stories, the ones that had everyone laughing themselves sick. Gary listened well and made smart comments. He never raised his voice like Rupert or Tom, who seemed to think they must yell to get the attention of the other three. Gary, by comparison, was quiet, dignified, always in control.
Emma noticed the way Daniel looked at him, how he would catch his eye every now and again, and how they always shared some wordless exchange – a wink, a quirk of a smile, Daniel’s foot bumping Gary’s under the table.
Gary told some stories, too. He leaned back in the booth, completely relaxed, his legs spread, one arm slung along behind Tom. He’d sip his drink in a timely manner and never ever rush his words. He had the ability to hang your breath on the end of his sentence, making you wait to inhale until he’d delivered the punch. He mastered the table. He had them all in stitches, and it just seemed effortless. And while they’d laugh, he’d just take a nice long drink and wink at Daniel over the rim of his vodka.
“Another round?” he asked when everyone had run dry once more. “I don’t feel like waiting for our server.”
Everyone assented.
“Danny?” Gary said, and he inclined his head toward the bar.
“Yeah,” Daniel said and got up to follow him.
Emma watched them walk away, the closeness of their arms, brushing shoulders as they walked, the way Gary would dip his head to whisper to Daniel, his hand at Dan’s lower back, the way Gary’s smile was bigger when they were alone. Emma watched the back of Daniel’s neck blush.
They were beautiful. And that terrified her.
*
“Sure is taking a while on those drinks,” Tom groused.
Emma diligently watched Gary and Daniel at the bar. Dan was sitting on a stool. Gary was leaned on the bar, standing close, his foot propped on Daniel’s barstool, between Daniel’s feet, his knee perilously close to Daniel’s crotch. They were smiling and talking.
“Tom. Rupert,” she started. She wasn’t sure if she was doing the right thing, but it was what her gut told her was best, so she went for it. Strategically.
“Yes, Emma,” Rupert parroted.
She cleared her throat. “What do you see when you look at Gary and Dan?”
They both looked over at the bar. Rupert looked back at her. “Two blokes waiting on a slow bartender.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I suppose, but…. Well, what else?”
“They look…happy,” Tom added.
“So…you’re telling me that you don’t see it?”
“See what?” they replied in sync.
Just then, Gary reached out and stroked a strand of Daniel’s hair off his forehead, the backs of his fingers lingering down the side of Daniel’s smiling face.
“Oh,” said Tom.
“Right,” said Rupert.
“Seems a bit…dodgy,” Tom added.
Emma reached over and smacked him on the shoulder. “And what if it is dodgy? What’s so wrong with that?”
Tom looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Nothing!” He looked back at the bar. “It’s just…Daniel. And Gary Bloody Oldman.”
“I donated to the Trevor Project,” Rupert hastened to inform them.
“That’s wonderful, Rupe. I just think we should…I don’t know…let them know that it’s okay with us.”
“Well, of course it’s okay with us!” Rupert replied.
“Then why haven’t they told us? We’re their friends. They must feel, for security purposes, that they have to hide it.”
“Maybe.”
“Probably.”
“Then oughtn’t we to…support them?” Emma asked.
The drinks arrived at the bar, and Gary and Daniel were bringing them over.
“Well?” she asked. “And quit staring now!”
Tom and Rupe looked away, at nothing, at the wall. Ridiculous, Emma thought.
“Well…sure. I guess.”
“We don’t want them to have to hide right?” she said.
“No,” they both answered.
“All right. Good. Let me handle it.”
They both looked perfectly relieved to assent.
Gary and Daniel arrived at the table and started setting the drinks down.
“Sorry about the wait,” Daniel was saying.
Emma bit her lip. There was a decent song playing over the speakers. She noticed that a tipsy looking Rickman was dancing with his wife and the twins were dragging Helena and Maggie onto the floor as well.
“Dan. Dance with me.” She hadn’t meant it to sound so bossy, but well, there it was.
Daniel looked at Gary, and Gary shoved him in her direction looking mischievous.
“Uh, sure, Em,” he said. “I’m not a great dancer, though.”
“Neither am I.”
She pulled on his hand and led him onto the narrow dance floor. They both began stepping from side to side, their elbows touching their ribs, snapping their fingers to the beat.
“So,” she said. Her heart was hammering.
“So,” he answered.
“I actually just wanted to talk to you alone.”
“And you wanted the challenge of trying to dance at the same time?”
“I didn’t want it to *look* like I just wanted to talk to you alone,” she corrected.
“Ah. Well, okay. What’s up?”
She took a deep breath. She thought about pussy-footing around it but didn’t think she could keep up the bad dancing long enough for that. “I know,” she said, and she tried to inject it with a wealth of love and compassion.
“You know…what?” Dan was a good actor, but she was pretty sure he knew exactly what she meant. She didn’t miss the tale-tell swallowing.
“About you and Gary. You’re together,” she said. And then quickly, because Daniel blanched, “And I think it’s lovely!”
He swallowed again. “Who else knows?”
“Just the boys, I think. But…well…you’re not hiding it very well.”
“No,” Daniel answered, blushing. “I suppose not.”
“How long?”
“Since opening night of ‘Equus’,” he told her. Then he smiled. “Two months last Friday.”
She smiled at him. “I’m so happy for you.” Then, “Does that mean you’re…?”
He shrugged. “Well, I’m something. I don’t think it matters what, really.”
“No. I suppose it doesn’t.”
Daniel took her hands and they moved under the flashing lights. Rickman grooved past, whooping loudly. They both laughed.
“You’re really okay with it?” Daniel asked her.
“Why on earth wouldn’t I be?”
He shrugged. “The age thing?”
Emma snuck a look at Ralph, casually drinking a lager and chatting with three crew members over by the bar. “No. I’m fine with that.”
“I’ve been worried,” he told her.
They suffered through another of Rickman’s drunken maneuvers. “About what?” she asked once he’d passed.
“About Gary’s career. It’s why I’ve insisted on staying quiet about it. I mean, with all the work I’ve done with Trevor and the like, most people probably think I’m gay already. But Gary… He’s got a career to protect. People aren’t as forgiving of actors from his generation.”
“I dunno,” she said. “They may be.”
“I don’t want to be naïve about it. I mean, we could single-handedly tank Order, don’t you think? I’m supposed to be his godson.” He sighed, his gaze imploring. “But…”
“But what?” she asked.
“But it goes against my belief system to be in the closet. Em, I love him. I can’t pretend I don’t.” His eyes were warm and soft. She’d never seen him look so beautiful really.
She smiled at her friend. “What if you could be out to us? To your friends? You wouldn’t have to tackle the press just yet, you know.”
He bit his lip. He looked over at Gary and then back at her. “I’d love that.”
She pulled him into her arms. “So would I.” She pulled back, the pretext of dancing abandoned. “Would Gary?”
“He wanted me to tell you weeks ago,” Daniel confided. “He’s not afraid. I guess if he’s not, I have no business being afraid *for* him.”
“So?” She felt giddy and ecstatic. “Go ask him to dance.”
“You think? Really?”
“Absolutely! Everyone here loves you both. It’d be brilliant.”
“It would, wouldn’t it?” he said. Then he hugged her once more, kissed her quickly at the corner of her lips, and then left the dance floor.
She watched him walk straight up to Gary, tap his shoulder, and then whisper something in his ear. She watched Gary’s slow smile – the way he blinked a little faster. He nodded. He took Daniel’s hand.
There was a tap at her shoulder. She turned quickly, feeling like an eavesdropper revealed. “Ralph!” she exclaimed. “Um, hello.”
“Would you like to dance?” he asked her.
She gulped. The song had changed to something slow. Ralph Fiennes was asking her to dance. Ralph Fiennes! “Yeah…sure…” she breathed.
He took her about the waist, holding her hand in his own. “I couldn’t leave a beautiful woman alone on a dance floor.”
She laughed. It wasn’t a sexy laugh, either. It was more like a guffaw. She felt her cheeks turning scarlet. She couldn’t look in his eyes, so she swallowed hard and sought out Gary and Daniel.
Gary had Daniel in his arms like Ralph had her, but they were closer, bodies touching, faces close, lips so very close. She looked around the room. Their friends had certainly noticed, but where there were amazed whispers and dropped jaws and a few “Oh my Gods”, there were also approving smiles. She breathed a sigh of relief.
“You’re a good dancer,” Ralph told her.
“Bollocks,” she blurted, and then felt instantly embarrassed.
But Ralph laughed. “I like a pretty girl with a dirty mouth.”
“Well, then,” she said, emboldened by Daniel and Gary, emboldened by a few white wines and Ralph’s generous laugh. “You smell fucking amazing.”
He laughed again and twirled her around the floor. The next time she glanced up to find her friends, they were kissing. Kissing. Her heart leapt. Gary’s mouth was strong and slow on Daniel’s, and Daniel’s arms had wrapped around Gary’s neck. Scattered applause broke out from around the room.
“Jolly good!” called Rickman.
“I knew it! I knew it!” exclaimed one of the twins. Emma wasn’t sure which one. “Fifty bucks,” he said to the other one.
Rupert whistled from their booth.
Gary and Daniel were slow to stop kissing, but their smiles when they finally did were brilliant.
The song changed again. It was that old party cliché, “Celebrate” by Kool and the Gang. Emma started to roll her eyes, but Ralph took her hands and said, “I love this one. Come on.”
Then he dragged her over and grabbed Rickman, motioned to the boys in the booth, to everyone. “Come on! A circle, a circle.”
Everybody scrambled into a rough circle. That was, apparently, all the permission Rickman needed to burst into the center and start busting a move. The entire crowd clapped in unison and egged him on. Emma was shocked; he was really quite good. He did the Bus Stop, possibly the Mashed Potato, the Funky Chicken, and a slightly off-kilter Running Man. Emma laughed unreservedly.
“Snape! Snape! Snape! Snape! Snape!” was the chant taken up.
When he’d tapped his repertoire of dance moves, Rickman bowed to thunderous applause. Then he tapped Maggie on the shoulder and pulled her into the circle, backing away with an eyebrow waggle.
“I mustn’t,” Maggie protested.
Gary put his fingers in his mouth and whistled.
Maggie blushed. “Oh all right.” Then she broke out in some truly fabulous clogging.
Everyone exploded in applause and shouting.
It went on like that as the song progressed: James and Oliver attempted some break-dance moves; Tom, Rupe, and Matthew all took to the middle for what could only be deemed slam dancing.
Then it was Gary’s turn. He boogied out onto the floor and then crook’d his finger at Daniel.
“Yeah!” Rupert yelled.
“Go for it, Danny!” someone else shouted.
Daniel took Gary’s hand, and Gary immediately whipped him into a sort of hustle, complete with twirls and dips and such. The crowd went wild.
When Gary had flung Daniel around quite a bit, he finally reeled him in tight, picked up right up off his feet, and carried him back out of the circle. Emma suspected that every girl in the crowd simultaneously went, “Awww!”
Rickman was once again back in the middle, and he finished out the song. Everyone clapped. Everyone except Gary and Daniel who were off in a corner, stealing a bit of a snog again.
Ralph took her hand and kissed it. “Thank you for the dance, Ms. Watson.”
“Thank you,” she said and then watched him make his way back to the bar.
Someone tapped her shoulder. It was Rupert and Tom, both out of breath.
“I think you did all right,” Tom told her. He nodded his head toward Dan and Gary.
“They’re a little too adorable for me,” Rupert said, and Emma elbowed him. “Okay, they’re just the right amount of adorable.” He rolled his eyes at Tom. “Can we buy you a drink, Em?”
“Sure,” she said. “How about coffees for all of us?”
“Bloody right,” Tom agreed.
“Bloody right,” Rupe repeated.
She spared one more look at her friends tangled up with each other in the dark corner. They were just hugging now, holding each other so close and long and tight. It was one of the loveliest things she’d ever seen. Leaving them to it, her work complete, Emma slung her arms through her friends’ and headed to the bar.
Author:
traintracksPairing/Characters: Gary/Daniel, Emma, Alan, Rupert, Tom, Maggie, James, Oliver, Matthew, Ralph (all fictionalized, of course).
Rating: PG-13
Summary: At the belated cast party for OotP, Emma notices something different about Gary and Daniel. Follows "After Equus" in which Gary and Daniel start seeing each other after opening night of the show. Find the first story (NC-17) here: http://traintracks.dreamwidth.org/364.html
Warnings: RPS. This is so very not real! Also, Alan Rickman dances really badly.
Words: 3,675
The winter had been brutal, so they’d decided to just wrap on Order and have a cast party in the Spring when they’d had a chance to miss one another at least a little bit.
Emma arrived at the bar in Bloomsbury shortly after nine, the party having been scheduled for eight. She was a quite punctual person, so it was difficult to make herself late. She’d arrived at eight forty-five, actually, and had driven around the block a few times.
She was grateful Ernie’s was the chosen spot. It was not ostentatious in the least, and being situated in the literary district of the city, it seemed a fine place to hold a party for people playing characters in a book. The press had not been notified, but Emma knew to expect one or two particularly astute reporters with their cameras outside. She gave a little smile and a wave on her way in and was then surprised at how homey it felt inside. She recognized practically everyone in the dimly lit room.
Tom and Rupert were already socked away in a corner booth laughing over their beers. Emma made her way over to their table, waving at Rickman and Ralph on the way. Ralph told her – well, frankly he yelled, since he was clear across the room – that she looked hot. She curtsied and blushed. Truth be told, she’d had a bit of a crush on him ever since Quiz Show. Or ever since she’d seen it at any rate.
Rupert raised his beer to her as she approached, and Tom stood up and gave her a warm hug.
They got the how’ve you beens out of the way, and she ordered a white wine.
“Who else is coming?” she asked the boys.
“Most everybody, I think,” Tom offered. He listed them off on his fingers. “Maggie, Helena… Matthew’s already over there with James and Oliver.”
“Oh, lovely,” she said.
“And here comes Dan with Gary now,” Rupert added, nodding toward the door.
Emma sipped her wine and watched them enter. They were laughing, continuing a conversation they’d already been having, which meant that they’d come together, not separately. Emma took a deep breath watching them. The signs were still there. Maybe more so. It was hard to tell since they hadn’t seen one another for a few months. Except that it looked like Daniel and Gary had been seeing each other. Perhaps in every sense of that phrase. She’d suspected for nearly a year. She often wondered if she was the only one.
“Em, watch you don’t fall out of the booth, will you,” Rupert said. “Why don’t we just call them over rather than you sending your greeting psychically.” He whistled and Tom called out, “Potter!” trying for malicious yet not really pulling it off with a bit of alcohol in him.
Daniel waved. Emma watched Gary take his coat for him, slipping it off Daniel’s shoulders and giving him a wink before Daniel headed their way. Gary tilted his head toward the bar, and Daniel nodded, then he was walking over, smiling hugely, looking refreshed from the break – looking extraordinarily happy, in fact.
“Hey!” he greeted, hugging Tom and patting him heartily on the back.
Rupert was in the corner, unable to get out, so Daniel just reached over and ruffled his hair. “Bugger off,” Rupert laughed.
“Em,” Daniel said softly, hugging her with less enthusiasm than Tom but taking the time to plant a tender kiss on her cheek as well. He sat down next to her. It seemed his eyes went straight to the bar. To Gary. Emma watched Daniel watching him order their drinks.
“How’ve you been, mate?” Rupert asked.
“Splendid,” Daniel breathed, as though he had run to the bar and was still a bit winded yet happy about it. His cheeks were pink and his eyes bright. “All of you?”
The boys took turns telling their stories of the break. Rupert had started dating Christie from make-up, but she was at her mother’s tonight for a birthday. Tom had gotten three new scripts in the mail. Emma listened, her chin in her hand. It was good to see them again, to hear their voices and not have to worry about remembering lines or having three hours with the tutor after blocking or any of the work part of their relationships.
As she listened, she realized that Daniel was just listening, too. He seemed content to let Rupe and Tom hog the conversation spot-light. As they argued good-naturedly over the relative merits of this or that actor, Daniel caught her looking at him. He gave her a private smile. He kissed her on the cheek again.
“So good to see you, Em,” he told her quietly.
“You, too,” she told him. “Daniel,” she then started, though she wasn’t exactly sure how she might phrase it: “Boffed any hot older actors lately? You and Gary been getting it on nicely? Are you both mad? Are you both happy enough that the mad part doesn’t matter? Am *I* mad?” She was saved from having to figure it out by a very loud-mouthed Tom.
He pointed with his beer hand at Daniel, sloshing some over the side onto the table. “Hey! I saw your dangly bits on the Internet!”
And it was at that moment, too, that Gary arrived at their table with their drinks.
“Oldman!” Rupert erupted. Tom, likewise, looked ready to tackle him like a drunken linebacker. It was true that seemingly the entire cast, at least the young ones, sported a kind of infatuated idolization with Gary. Everyone greatly respected his career and his acting, and the reaction to him faulted from shy nervousness to enthusiastic overcompensation, which Rupe and Tom were both engaged in at the moment. Tom, at least, let Gary put the drinks down before giving him a huge, undignified hug which Gary suffered cordially. Rupert actually stood up in the booth to shake his hand across the table.
“Sit down, you monkey,” Emma hissed at him.
“Boys,” Gary greeted warmly. “How are you?” Then he turned to Emma and took her hand, reaching over Daniel to do so. “Ms. Watson. Charmed to see you tonight. You look ravishing.” He kissed her knuckles, and his lips were moist and hot.
“Mr. Oldman,” she greeted with a blush.
When he’d finished greeting them all, he nudged Daniel’s drink over in front of him with a crooked smile, then he sat down across from him next to Tom who scooted over to make room for him so violently that he rammed into Rupert while he was taking a drink and barely missed sending it all down his front.
“Bloody hell, Felton,” Rupert groused.
Neither Gary nor Daniel seemed to notice. They were ever-so-subtly smiling at each other across the table.
Tom remembered his train of thought mid-drink. “Mm!” he swallowed. “So we were talking about your naked thingie, right?”
Daniel smiled and dropped his eyes. “Yes, I suppose,” he said, nodding.
“I’m sorry I missed the play,” Tom told him sincerely. “I’m catching it in New York, though.”
“Brilliant,” Daniel replied.
“I saw it,” Rupert chimed in. “Your arse is WHITE, mate.”
“Well, I am English, you git,” Daniel retorted. He took a sip of his whiskey.
“But seriously, mate, you were fan-bloody-tastic. I was floored. Really.”
“Thanks, Rupe.”
“Oldman, did you go to the show?”
Gary answered from behind his glass, ready to sip. “I did.”
“And what did you think?”
“I think his arse is very white, yes,” Gary answered.
The boys erupted with laughter. Emma noticed that Daniel kicked Gary’s foot under the table. “Prick,” he said under his breath, but there was absolutely zero rancor in it. His gaze was soft and alight with pleasure, actually.
Gary went on, “I also think he was wonderful.”
Daniel smirked at him. “You’re forgiven.”
Tom and Rupert seemed oblivious, but for Emma, the tenderness in those two words settled it. She felt a stream of competing emotions – shock, giddiness, excitement, fear, and oddly, sadness. They were doing it. They simply *had* to be doing it. But no one knew. I mean, obviously they wouldn’t be telling anyone. Emma thought about how easily Rupe had talked about Christie, and yet here were two of his best friends, telling no one anything, sharing nothing. She was suddenly angry at both Rupert and Tom for being such obtuse idiots. She drank her wine down in two long gulps.
The waiter came over for drink orders, and then everyone talked about Dan’s bum for a while longer. When that avenue ran a deadend (and Emma didn’t miss that Gary subtly steered the discussion elsewhere), everyone told their various and sundry stories, the ones that had everyone laughing themselves sick. Gary listened well and made smart comments. He never raised his voice like Rupert or Tom, who seemed to think they must yell to get the attention of the other three. Gary, by comparison, was quiet, dignified, always in control.
Emma noticed the way Daniel looked at him, how he would catch his eye every now and again, and how they always shared some wordless exchange – a wink, a quirk of a smile, Daniel’s foot bumping Gary’s under the table.
Gary told some stories, too. He leaned back in the booth, completely relaxed, his legs spread, one arm slung along behind Tom. He’d sip his drink in a timely manner and never ever rush his words. He had the ability to hang your breath on the end of his sentence, making you wait to inhale until he’d delivered the punch. He mastered the table. He had them all in stitches, and it just seemed effortless. And while they’d laugh, he’d just take a nice long drink and wink at Daniel over the rim of his vodka.
“Another round?” he asked when everyone had run dry once more. “I don’t feel like waiting for our server.”
Everyone assented.
“Danny?” Gary said, and he inclined his head toward the bar.
“Yeah,” Daniel said and got up to follow him.
Emma watched them walk away, the closeness of their arms, brushing shoulders as they walked, the way Gary would dip his head to whisper to Daniel, his hand at Dan’s lower back, the way Gary’s smile was bigger when they were alone. Emma watched the back of Daniel’s neck blush.
They were beautiful. And that terrified her.
*
“Sure is taking a while on those drinks,” Tom groused.
Emma diligently watched Gary and Daniel at the bar. Dan was sitting on a stool. Gary was leaned on the bar, standing close, his foot propped on Daniel’s barstool, between Daniel’s feet, his knee perilously close to Daniel’s crotch. They were smiling and talking.
“Tom. Rupert,” she started. She wasn’t sure if she was doing the right thing, but it was what her gut told her was best, so she went for it. Strategically.
“Yes, Emma,” Rupert parroted.
She cleared her throat. “What do you see when you look at Gary and Dan?”
They both looked over at the bar. Rupert looked back at her. “Two blokes waiting on a slow bartender.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I suppose, but…. Well, what else?”
“They look…happy,” Tom added.
“So…you’re telling me that you don’t see it?”
“See what?” they replied in sync.
Just then, Gary reached out and stroked a strand of Daniel’s hair off his forehead, the backs of his fingers lingering down the side of Daniel’s smiling face.
“Oh,” said Tom.
“Right,” said Rupert.
“Seems a bit…dodgy,” Tom added.
Emma reached over and smacked him on the shoulder. “And what if it is dodgy? What’s so wrong with that?”
Tom looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Nothing!” He looked back at the bar. “It’s just…Daniel. And Gary Bloody Oldman.”
“I donated to the Trevor Project,” Rupert hastened to inform them.
“That’s wonderful, Rupe. I just think we should…I don’t know…let them know that it’s okay with us.”
“Well, of course it’s okay with us!” Rupert replied.
“Then why haven’t they told us? We’re their friends. They must feel, for security purposes, that they have to hide it.”
“Maybe.”
“Probably.”
“Then oughtn’t we to…support them?” Emma asked.
The drinks arrived at the bar, and Gary and Daniel were bringing them over.
“Well?” she asked. “And quit staring now!”
Tom and Rupe looked away, at nothing, at the wall. Ridiculous, Emma thought.
“Well…sure. I guess.”
“We don’t want them to have to hide right?” she said.
“No,” they both answered.
“All right. Good. Let me handle it.”
They both looked perfectly relieved to assent.
Gary and Daniel arrived at the table and started setting the drinks down.
“Sorry about the wait,” Daniel was saying.
Emma bit her lip. There was a decent song playing over the speakers. She noticed that a tipsy looking Rickman was dancing with his wife and the twins were dragging Helena and Maggie onto the floor as well.
“Dan. Dance with me.” She hadn’t meant it to sound so bossy, but well, there it was.
Daniel looked at Gary, and Gary shoved him in her direction looking mischievous.
“Uh, sure, Em,” he said. “I’m not a great dancer, though.”
“Neither am I.”
She pulled on his hand and led him onto the narrow dance floor. They both began stepping from side to side, their elbows touching their ribs, snapping their fingers to the beat.
“So,” she said. Her heart was hammering.
“So,” he answered.
“I actually just wanted to talk to you alone.”
“And you wanted the challenge of trying to dance at the same time?”
“I didn’t want it to *look* like I just wanted to talk to you alone,” she corrected.
“Ah. Well, okay. What’s up?”
She took a deep breath. She thought about pussy-footing around it but didn’t think she could keep up the bad dancing long enough for that. “I know,” she said, and she tried to inject it with a wealth of love and compassion.
“You know…what?” Dan was a good actor, but she was pretty sure he knew exactly what she meant. She didn’t miss the tale-tell swallowing.
“About you and Gary. You’re together,” she said. And then quickly, because Daniel blanched, “And I think it’s lovely!”
He swallowed again. “Who else knows?”
“Just the boys, I think. But…well…you’re not hiding it very well.”
“No,” Daniel answered, blushing. “I suppose not.”
“How long?”
“Since opening night of ‘Equus’,” he told her. Then he smiled. “Two months last Friday.”
She smiled at him. “I’m so happy for you.” Then, “Does that mean you’re…?”
He shrugged. “Well, I’m something. I don’t think it matters what, really.”
“No. I suppose it doesn’t.”
Daniel took her hands and they moved under the flashing lights. Rickman grooved past, whooping loudly. They both laughed.
“You’re really okay with it?” Daniel asked her.
“Why on earth wouldn’t I be?”
He shrugged. “The age thing?”
Emma snuck a look at Ralph, casually drinking a lager and chatting with three crew members over by the bar. “No. I’m fine with that.”
“I’ve been worried,” he told her.
They suffered through another of Rickman’s drunken maneuvers. “About what?” she asked once he’d passed.
“About Gary’s career. It’s why I’ve insisted on staying quiet about it. I mean, with all the work I’ve done with Trevor and the like, most people probably think I’m gay already. But Gary… He’s got a career to protect. People aren’t as forgiving of actors from his generation.”
“I dunno,” she said. “They may be.”
“I don’t want to be naïve about it. I mean, we could single-handedly tank Order, don’t you think? I’m supposed to be his godson.” He sighed, his gaze imploring. “But…”
“But what?” she asked.
“But it goes against my belief system to be in the closet. Em, I love him. I can’t pretend I don’t.” His eyes were warm and soft. She’d never seen him look so beautiful really.
She smiled at her friend. “What if you could be out to us? To your friends? You wouldn’t have to tackle the press just yet, you know.”
He bit his lip. He looked over at Gary and then back at her. “I’d love that.”
She pulled him into her arms. “So would I.” She pulled back, the pretext of dancing abandoned. “Would Gary?”
“He wanted me to tell you weeks ago,” Daniel confided. “He’s not afraid. I guess if he’s not, I have no business being afraid *for* him.”
“So?” She felt giddy and ecstatic. “Go ask him to dance.”
“You think? Really?”
“Absolutely! Everyone here loves you both. It’d be brilliant.”
“It would, wouldn’t it?” he said. Then he hugged her once more, kissed her quickly at the corner of her lips, and then left the dance floor.
She watched him walk straight up to Gary, tap his shoulder, and then whisper something in his ear. She watched Gary’s slow smile – the way he blinked a little faster. He nodded. He took Daniel’s hand.
There was a tap at her shoulder. She turned quickly, feeling like an eavesdropper revealed. “Ralph!” she exclaimed. “Um, hello.”
“Would you like to dance?” he asked her.
She gulped. The song had changed to something slow. Ralph Fiennes was asking her to dance. Ralph Fiennes! “Yeah…sure…” she breathed.
He took her about the waist, holding her hand in his own. “I couldn’t leave a beautiful woman alone on a dance floor.”
She laughed. It wasn’t a sexy laugh, either. It was more like a guffaw. She felt her cheeks turning scarlet. She couldn’t look in his eyes, so she swallowed hard and sought out Gary and Daniel.
Gary had Daniel in his arms like Ralph had her, but they were closer, bodies touching, faces close, lips so very close. She looked around the room. Their friends had certainly noticed, but where there were amazed whispers and dropped jaws and a few “Oh my Gods”, there were also approving smiles. She breathed a sigh of relief.
“You’re a good dancer,” Ralph told her.
“Bollocks,” she blurted, and then felt instantly embarrassed.
But Ralph laughed. “I like a pretty girl with a dirty mouth.”
“Well, then,” she said, emboldened by Daniel and Gary, emboldened by a few white wines and Ralph’s generous laugh. “You smell fucking amazing.”
He laughed again and twirled her around the floor. The next time she glanced up to find her friends, they were kissing. Kissing. Her heart leapt. Gary’s mouth was strong and slow on Daniel’s, and Daniel’s arms had wrapped around Gary’s neck. Scattered applause broke out from around the room.
“Jolly good!” called Rickman.
“I knew it! I knew it!” exclaimed one of the twins. Emma wasn’t sure which one. “Fifty bucks,” he said to the other one.
Rupert whistled from their booth.
Gary and Daniel were slow to stop kissing, but their smiles when they finally did were brilliant.
The song changed again. It was that old party cliché, “Celebrate” by Kool and the Gang. Emma started to roll her eyes, but Ralph took her hands and said, “I love this one. Come on.”
Then he dragged her over and grabbed Rickman, motioned to the boys in the booth, to everyone. “Come on! A circle, a circle.”
Everybody scrambled into a rough circle. That was, apparently, all the permission Rickman needed to burst into the center and start busting a move. The entire crowd clapped in unison and egged him on. Emma was shocked; he was really quite good. He did the Bus Stop, possibly the Mashed Potato, the Funky Chicken, and a slightly off-kilter Running Man. Emma laughed unreservedly.
“Snape! Snape! Snape! Snape! Snape!” was the chant taken up.
When he’d tapped his repertoire of dance moves, Rickman bowed to thunderous applause. Then he tapped Maggie on the shoulder and pulled her into the circle, backing away with an eyebrow waggle.
“I mustn’t,” Maggie protested.
Gary put his fingers in his mouth and whistled.
Maggie blushed. “Oh all right.” Then she broke out in some truly fabulous clogging.
Everyone exploded in applause and shouting.
It went on like that as the song progressed: James and Oliver attempted some break-dance moves; Tom, Rupe, and Matthew all took to the middle for what could only be deemed slam dancing.
Then it was Gary’s turn. He boogied out onto the floor and then crook’d his finger at Daniel.
“Yeah!” Rupert yelled.
“Go for it, Danny!” someone else shouted.
Daniel took Gary’s hand, and Gary immediately whipped him into a sort of hustle, complete with twirls and dips and such. The crowd went wild.
When Gary had flung Daniel around quite a bit, he finally reeled him in tight, picked up right up off his feet, and carried him back out of the circle. Emma suspected that every girl in the crowd simultaneously went, “Awww!”
Rickman was once again back in the middle, and he finished out the song. Everyone clapped. Everyone except Gary and Daniel who were off in a corner, stealing a bit of a snog again.
Ralph took her hand and kissed it. “Thank you for the dance, Ms. Watson.”
“Thank you,” she said and then watched him make his way back to the bar.
Someone tapped her shoulder. It was Rupert and Tom, both out of breath.
“I think you did all right,” Tom told her. He nodded his head toward Dan and Gary.
“They’re a little too adorable for me,” Rupert said, and Emma elbowed him. “Okay, they’re just the right amount of adorable.” He rolled his eyes at Tom. “Can we buy you a drink, Em?”
“Sure,” she said. “How about coffees for all of us?”
“Bloody right,” Tom agreed.
“Bloody right,” Rupe repeated.
She spared one more look at her friends tangled up with each other in the dark corner. They were just hugging now, holding each other so close and long and tight. It was one of the loveliest things she’d ever seen. Leaving them to it, her work complete, Emma slung her arms through her friends’ and headed to the bar.
