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Being around Daniel always made Scott happy, unless he became the third wheel. He had no problems personally with Dan's girlfriend, but sometimes he wished she didn't exist. It seemed like wherever Dan was, she would follow. It was just hard for Scott to watch Daniel be happy with someone that wasn't him.
It was difficult for Scott to figure out why he felt so annoyed by the Welshman's relationship for a long time. He spent many months in a state of pure denial. ‘It's because I don't have a relationship like that,’ he would sometimes think. Other times it was ‘they're just too lovey-dovey, it's gross.’ But there came a time when he could no longer hide the true reason from himself: he had a major crush on Daniel James.
As soon as he realized, Scott did what he could to suppress his feelings. It wasn't a foreign concept to him, he often ignored his feelings to better focus on football. Pushing away his feelings also meant pushing away a certain winger. He began ghosting Dan's messages, declining phone calls, distancing himself at training, avoiding making plans, and just overall evading the younger boy.
Of course, these actions didn't go unnoticed. It took only a few short weeks for Daniel to become quite fed up with being ignored. He was absolutely determined to get to the bottom of the McTominay's behaviour and would do whatever necessary to find answers, even if it meant showing up uninvited to Scott's house and letting himself in unannounced.
It was late in the afternoon, Scott was showering after taking a midday run when Dan snuck in. He was shown where the Scotsman kept a spare key once when the older boy foolishly walked out of the house without his set.
Daniel quietly took the key from its hiding spot, unlocked the door, and stepped into the house. The Welsh boy pocketed the key as he made his way up the stairs to Scott's room. He knew the midfielder's schedule well enough to know where he should be next.
Scott, who was only in a towel, nearly leaped out of his skin when he stepped into the bedroom and saw Daniel lounged in his bed. "Holy fuck, DJ how did you get into my house?"
"Spare key," Dan shrugged, sitting up crossed legged and pulling the key out from his pocket.
"Okay, but why?" Scott asked, nervously playing with a loose thread at the top of his towel.
"Wanted to talk to you," Dan answered, completely unphased by the clearly embarrassed boy in front of him.
"You couldn't have just sent a text or called like a normal person?" Scott groaned, going to his dresser to grab clothes and avoid looking at the boy in his bed. "I mean isn't breaking in a little extreme?"
"You've been ignoring me," Dan disputed. "You decline my calls and leave me on read all the time. What happened, Scotty? I thought we were friends, you said you would be there for me. You avoid me constantly and I want to know why. I miss you, Scotty."
The tone in Daniel's voice shook towards the end of his rant. Even though Scott had his back to the younger boy, he could just imagine how upset he had to look right now. It was clear the midfielder had made a mistake.
"I'm sorry," Scott breathed out, not yet turning. "I'm a shitty friend."
"Did I do something wrong? Do you not like me anymore?" Dan questioned.
"God no, you're great," Scott turned to face the younger boy finally, no longer caring about his appearance. Daniel needed him, that was all that mattered.
"Then what?" Dan pressed, getting up and getting right in front of the older boy. "Talk to me, Scotty."
"You're a really great friend, I really value our friendship," Scott said, looking anywhere but at the broken brown eyes staring him down.
"Look at me and tell me what's going on," Dan demanded, placing his hands on the taller boy's cheeks and forcing him to look at the eyes he was avoiding. "I'm sick of this game, just be honest with me."
The response was very straightforward and as honest as could be. Instead of saying what was on his mind, Scott leaned forward and pressed his lips against the smaller boy's. He felt like his heart was going to explode. He was kissing Daniel James- oh fuck he was kissing Daniel James who was not kissing back.
Scott pulled away quickly and backed away, back meeting the open dresser drawer behind him in an ungraceful bang. "I'm so sorry I don't know why I did that."
"So that's it, huh?" Dan declared, looking away and folding his arms.
"What?" Scott asked, confused at what the younger boy was getting at, and even more surprised he hadn't just run away.
"You like me so you avoid me, that’s what this is," Dan nodded slowly to himself, shifting on his feet. "How do you feel?"
"Confused?" Scott revealed truthfully. "I don't know how to feel, I don't know why you're being so calm about this. Shouldn't you have pushed me away and run?"
"I care about you, Scotty, a lot," Dan confessed. "I had my suspicions and I've had my feelings so I'm not surprised."
"You've had your feelings?" Scott pried. "What does that mean?"
"You're so oblivious sometimes," Dan shook his head before quickly bringing the taller boy into a wistful kiss.
Even though it was Daniel that initiated the kiss, it was Scott that ended it once again. He yearned to keep going but his mind told him to stop.
"What's wrong?" Dan asked.
"We can't be doing this," retorted Scott.
"There's no one else here, it's just us," Dan argued. "You want this, I want this, can't we just have this time together?"
"As much as I want to say yes, we can't," Scott shook his head and turned away. "It's just not right."
"Okay," Dan nodded and took a somber breath. "Okay, well, I'll just go."
"I'm sorry," Scott affirmed. "I wish we could but it just wouldn't be right."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Dan sighed and made his way to the door, stopping in the doorway. "Just quit avoiding me, I still need you around."
"Right, okay," Scott agreed. "Text me when you get home?"
"Definitely," Dan smiled and left.
Scott finally finished getting dressed to the bubbling anthem of thoughts about Daniel James. He would soon question what he had gotten himself into but for now, all he thought of was the fact that Dan shared his feelings and that they were finally going to be good friends again. Really good friends.