I Thought He Was My Friend

It was a ruse. All a damn ruse and suddenly Makepeace was gone, the Colonel was back, and Daniel regained his Jack again. Sort of.

It was obvious something was going on. Their banter more biting. The Colonel wasn’t hanging around Daniel’s office any more. And Daniel still went to dinners with me, three times a week.

This was working better than I planned.

Daniel’s picking at his grilled fish. I squashed down a bit of annoyance and schooled a sympathetic face. “Daniel? What’s the matter?”

“Huh?” Daniel looked up and he blushed. God, he is beautiful. “Nothing, just thinking about the last mission.”

“Hey, no talking shop.” I knew he was thinking about him again. Damn it. Even when he’s not here. “How about you telling me more about that Yucatan dig?”

And I got him talking about something else. I would ask questions, feign interest, and we would be there til closing. I couldn’t stop watching him. We would stroll back to his apartment and Daniel would pat my shoulder, invite me up, and I would always refuse. He was inviting me up for the wrong reasons. And this way, I was disarming any doubt of my intentions.

I did that for a couple of weeks and Daniel’s mood seemed to be improving. I started getting a little more friendly; see if I couldn’t coax him into considering a relationship or at least sex with a man. I was taking notes when the Colonel and Daniel were in good terms. A touch on the arm, hand on the back of his neck, squeeze of Daniel’s shoulder.

Daniel jumped the first time I cupped the back of his neck. He was in his office, studying intently at some parchment. Didn’t hear me calling. I wanted to burn the artifact but instead I just slipped my hand around his neck.

And he jumped. Stared at me for a moment, then averted his eyes. Shy. God, he can be so fucking adorable.

Someone cleared his throat and we both started. The Colonel was leaning on the doorway, arms folded, and definitely looking peeved. I left with a bewildered “Bye” from Daniel.

My team were offplanet for a couple of weeks. During the time, I found I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Was he thinking about me? We agreed to meet up for dinner when I return; to catch that new Tut exhibit. Whatever. I knew this was the night. I’d been plying Daniel with attention, concern, and friendly companionship. And with the Colonel being an ass to him, I was sure Daniel was missing me. It would be perfect.

Daniel did give me a huge smile when I popped my head in to say I came back. Only I didn’t expect the Colonel to be there. Or Daniel turning around and inviting him as well when I reminded him about dinner. The Colonel didn’t look interested, made some disparaging remark about artifacts to which Daniel rolled his eyes. He wasn’t coming, but as I left, he was looking at me. It took a lot of restraint not to run under his stare.

Dinner was perfect. Daniel kept shying away every time my hand brushed his. But he smiled. I could tell he was waiting. Fine. I can wait til later.

The exhibit was boring as hell but I managed to maintain a conversation that didn’t end when we arrived at his door. Daniel invited me up again to continue our conversation and seemed pleased when I said yes.