ultramatic | Sunshine and sweet harmonies, time to play

The summer had been the best Danny could recall. He'd gone to spend the summer at the beach, expecting the same stuff as usual. Lay in the sun, hook up with a few chicks, that sort of thing. The last thing he ever expected was everything that Tanner had been. Learning to surf was something that in no way fit his usual repertoire. And yet that's how he'd spent his summer. He wasn't the greatest at it, but hey, he could stay up on the board for a fair amount of time.

And then there was everything else that had happened. Drenched from the surf, laying under the dock with Tanner...it had been unreal. In the moment, he didn't even question it. It was beach fling. It felt great. Tanner felt great. It was only when he and his family headed back home that he thought about it. Doing that with a boy?! What had he been thinking?! What would they think at school?

By the time the first day rolled around, he'd pushed it from his mind. It was a fling and no one would ever know about it. He'd had fun. End of story. Simple. So he acted like he always did, strutting across the courtyard as students gathered. He was leaning against the brickwork, waiting for his usual cronies, chatting with a couple of girls. Thumbs tucked into the pockets of his dark jeans, a cigarette dangling from his lips.

"...you know how it is," he said with a slight scoff as the two girls giggled. One of them leaned closer, asking him something, eager to keep his attention.

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Danny's arms dropped and something in his expression soured. That twisting in his gut got worse. It wasn't supposed to feel like this. He got a weird sort of joy out of brushing people off. Ignoring them and walking away and generally being rude. It was part of being cool. You couldn't be cool if you associated with everyone. He'd done it to every girl he'd ever dated. In fact, it felt amazing with them because he hated talking to them. Especially when it came to Rizzo.

But this? This was different. It's not like he could be with Tanner like when he was with a chick. It wasn't like that. Guys didn't do that with each other. What happened at the beach, it was just fun. But this was school. This was the the real world.

"That's right." A flippant tone, but it felt wrong. "Look..." he let out a sigh as he glanced around. The courtyard was clearing out pretty fast, and no one was paying attention to them. "...it's just...different here. It all works different, alright?"

"Why would it work different?" Tanner challenges, and it's not stupidity--it's a stubbornness that normally shines through in moments like this. He genuinely doesn't see why things have to be. He's from a place that's surf and sunshine, not turf and social ladders.

"Come back to my house," He insists, and grabs Danny by the waist to pull him towards the schoolyard's field, backing up and miraculously not tripping in the least. It's his sense of balance.

"Then we don't have to worry about what's different, it can be us."

The moment that hand found his waist, Danny froze. It was one thing when Patty tried to do something like that. At least she was a girl. A girl he would never date, because who wanted to date something that perky? But then he could gracefully extract himself. It was expected. He was the school bad boy. All girls secretly wanted him. But this? This wasn't like that. For starters, there was a moment where it felt like it was summer again. Just the way it should be. But this wasn't the beach anymore.

At at once, Danny put his arms up as if he needed to fight and shoved himself back. He twisted himself out of Tanner's grasp. He needed a moment to compose himself. Running a hand over his hair to ensure it was still in place. Looking around for anyone who might have seen.

"I just can't, alright?" He was already backing away a few steps. "I've...I've gotta meet the guys." That sparked an idea, what he might need to explain this. "It's just that...well, think of it like this. You're still a surfer, and now I'm a biker." He dragged his hands down the front of his leather jacket. Shouldn't that have been obvious to both of them at the start of the day?

The guys. The Guys. Tanner is aware he's acting a bit like a girl but it doesn't make him less angry--less annoyed. It just makes him lean back, just a little. Try not to get too huffy, Tanner. It's just someone trying to explain things for you.

He flashes one of his trademark smiles, and nods.

"Right, surfers and bikers, they don't get along. But we do, and the only surfer here is me now." He gets it, maybe, but he doesn't quite understand.

A hand reaches up to try to teach up and touch the other's cheek, but he thinks better of it. Instead, he shoves his hands in his shorts pocket.

"When can I see you, then? Alone?"

Danny started to respond, but the words died on his tongue with a sigh. His shoulders rose and fell in the lowest effort shrug possible, more like he'd started one and then just sort of sagged. Because he did want to be with Tanner, like they'd done at the beach. Nothing had felt better than all that they did. And that smile was just like the summer sun. But now that he was back, he had an image to maintain. In a way, he didn't even want to do it, but how did he stop?

He wanted to say they couldn't see each other. At all. But the truth was, knowing Tanner was here and not being able to be near him was tearing Danny up inside. He felt lost. The guys followed his every lead, where would the be if he took off with the new kid? It was a flimsy excuse and fell apart now that he tried to rely on it. So what he finally said was nothing like that.

"Tonight..." He said, sounding resigned. "After dark. I'll pick you up, we'll check out a movie or somethin'." No one would see them at the drive in.

"A movie," Tanner echoes. He seems placated by that--and he is, because he's already making plans. "I was going to go see a movie with Lela, but being with you would be totally bodacious!" Which is, essentially, surfer lingo for 'yes that's good, I'll be there.'

He does act serious, though, if for a few moments. Because he knows that dip in the shoulders and he knows that half-slump, he'd seen it before in Seacat when he couldn't get a date with Giggles. Resignment.

"It's okay, Danny. You don't have to hide who you really are, here. You don't ever have to."

"That's just it," Danny said without thinking. "This IS who I am. I mean..." Another sigh because that didn't sound right. "It's who I am when I'm here. Who I was at the beach, that was...well it WAS me, but this is me to. It's..."

His hands flapped as he talked, gesturing here and there until they finally fell in defeat. He didn't have the words to describe this. He may as well have been trying to explain the inner workings of an engine to Patty for all it was making sense and getting across.

"It's just who I gotta be," he said, cramming his hands into his jacket pockets again. "I'll see you tonight, alright?" He was already stepping back, ready to head off the way his friends had gone.

"Tonight," Tanner mumbles, and it's slowly starting to sink in. This really was like the surfers and bikers--but the whole school was divided. The entire thing was confusing, and Tanner lets out a sigh he didn't even know he was holding in.

All he can do is hope Danny will be there, and--wait.

"Tonight!" He yells, and it's louder at Danny's retreating back. "But Danny? Don't run away, okay? You can't just run from your problems!"

Maybe it was out of line--maybe it was out of his hands and he just blurted it, but Tanner doesn't regret it. Tanner doesn't regret a lot of things, and that includes his summer at the beach with Danny.

He just hopes the other shows.

Danny cringed as Tanner shouted after him, his shoulders visibly flinching. He glanced around as he put on his sunglasses, hoping no one heard. The courtyard was pretty deserted now, thankfully. No one to see the new kid calling after him like a scorned girlfriend. But hey, at least Danny was known to have such things following him. Broken hearts in his wake for his entire time in high school.

That night, half an hour after the sunset, a dark car roared into Tanner's driveway. For once, Danny wished his car was a little more subtle, because he found himself hesitating to get out. He killed the engine, staring up at the house, feeling as though he'd swallowed rocks. He was always the one telling girls no one would see them at the drive-in. No one ever cared about what was happening outside their own car. But now he feared he'd be seen by his friends. They'd recognize his car and come pestering him. Wanting to know which chick he'd hooked up with this time.

He should just go, that'd be best. Break Tanner's heart. It's what he did best. And it was better for everyone involved. How could he ever been both the Danny the T-Birds needed and looked up to, and the Danny who met Tanner at the beach? Could they ever exist in the same place, in the same person?

Danny just let out a hard sigh and slumped in his seat, torn with indecision. Leave or go to the door. Both seemed like equally terrible decisions.

Sunshine and sweet harmonies, time to play

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