Chapter Text
Danny was pissed. Hardly an unusual emotion considering the current happenings of his life Daniel was hardly surprised as felt its crawl up his throat and lay a sour taste on his tongue as his eyes burned.
It had been three weeks, three freaking weeks, of no contact and Daniel wasn't having it.
Moving to go down yet another street corner, cliche as ever, Daniel found himself speed walking through the 1 am streets dressed in black and avidly avoiding the yellowed light cast from the street lamps hanging above him. ‘Turn the corner, no go back that way, the other corner, walk a few blocks a do it again’ rang loud and clear through Danny's head as he attempted to find the meeting place the eye had given him. He’d always hated the sewers -too crowded and close for comfort- but they were at least tolerated at night. Despite being a complete egotist even Daniel could enjoy the serene peacefulness of the drains at night, no one else around to blur the plans in his head no one around to- fuck.
Any enjoyment of these horrid drains was washed away the moment Daniel found himself standing shin deep in stale, foul smelling water. Fu-ck. And these were even new pants.
He found the Eye without much difficulty, the absolute joy that Danny felt at finding and communicating with the eye without Dylan’s condescending advice ringing in his ears blocking out any worries about why it had been so easy to find the Eye. None of that mattered: he’d found the Eye by himself, no other horsemen no Dylan, just J. Daniel Atlas.
And it felt great, he thought.
Once outside the tunnels, Danny could feel his phone buzzing angrily in his back pocket.
We need to talk. Now. Musly’s, on 6th. -Dylan
Daniel stopped himself mid eye roll as he pocketed his phone, it wasn’t as though dylan could see him anyways. The nerve of Dylan honestly, as though daniel would just drop everything he was doing and go meet the agent at some sketchy bar in the middle of the city. Hell, he could have been doing something of importance and yet Dylan thought he could just-
Wait, Danny thought to himself, smacking himself in the forehead as he stopped abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk, I am doing something of importance. Well hell to Dylan then, Daniel didn’t have to do anything the other man asked of him. It’s a free country, and if he wanted to ignore Dylan’s text than he damn well could.
It took Danny five minutes to find the bar on google maps (the yelp reviews leading him to believe it might not be as sketchy as he’d originally envisioned, some picture of Dylan in a suit and with a dry drink seated in the midst of a bar that had seen too many drunk fights stuck inside his mind), and not even ten minutes to walk there, most definitely at a leisurely pace.
In twenty he was sitting in front of Dylan, chin perched atop his crossed hands as his untouched drink- Gin and Tonic, a magician's wine- as he waited for Dylan to speak.
“Well?”
“I have a message, from the Eye,” Dylan said, and he made a big show of placing his glass down in order to look Daniel straight in the eye as he continued, “It’s time for the horseman to return, it’s been long enough and they believe you’re finally ready -all of you- for the second act. It’ll begin in-”
As Dylan kept talking, giving Danny a basic outline, the magician found himself growing more confused with every word that tumbled out from between Dylan’s lips. Did the other man not know about Danny meeting with the Eye? Was he just waiting for a different setting to blow up at Danuel or did he really not know? Daniel had been looking forward to sticking Dylan’s nose deep into the fact that Danny had found the Eye on his own, but he felt the amusement of the idea slowly deflate from beneath him as Dylan continued talking.
It’d be no fun to trick the older man, who was usually so hard to trick and so satisfying to prove wrong - a rare occurrence to be sure-, and Daniel felt himself sink back into his seat as he shot back half his drink.
“Atlas are you even listening to me? I know a new addition is hard on everyone, which is why I wanted to meet with you first… especially after, w-well,” Daniel’s head shot up at Dylan’s words, in time to see the older man running an uncomfortable hand through his tight curls, “Well after you and Henly of course…” He lead off, obviously waiting for Daniel to give his signature claim of him and the escape artist not being a couple but Danny didn’t give him the release, instead doing the rest of his drink in an failed attempt to slow his racing pulse at the mention of Henley’s name.
The abandonment still stung, and Daniel could feel it’s bitter sourness climbing back up his throat as it rested on the back on his tongue. It had hit Danny low and sharp right on his pride and the magician had spent days licking his wounds after he’d found out Henley had dropped, from Merriett of all people.
“Daniel…?”
“I need to go,” Danny said curtly, moving to stand as he slammed a ten dollar bill slightly harder than he meant to on the table. His eyes were growing tight and blurry, and Daniel knew he needed to leave now. He hadn’t thought about Henley in almost a month, and he certainly didn’t feel like reopening that event in the middle of a crowded bar. Not even in front of Dylan.
“All right, all right, sit down Atlas I’m sorry I brought it up. We’ll talk about that later, I’ll drop it.”
Daniel felt himself stop moving up as Dylan’s hand found his forearm, resting atop his skin as what should have been nothing more than a warm, reassuring presence. But, for a moment, Danny felt himself shiver as he had a sudden and, almost, violet flashback of when Dylan had first been inside his apartment.
The first time Daniel let Dylan into his apartment (more so the first time he let Dylan even see his apartment but even Danny couldn't kid himself about keeping secrets from the older man-Dylan was always a step ahead of him) it was raining. A steady downpour to act as the pathetic fallacy soundtrack of the night, pounding against the windows and down onto the roof.
“I'd say I only have enough tolerance for about, hm, lets says four minutes of lectures,” Daniel said, turning to face Dylan as he leaned nonchalantly against the kitchen countertop, his words only pointed at the tips as he raised his chin in smug arrogance at Dylan, “so you better start now-”
Suddenly, without any warning or shift in the other man's presence even to Danny, Dylan's lips were against Daniel’s own in a chaste yet firm kiss. Attempting to pull away, not so much due to a lack of enjoying his current situation but more so due to the utter confusion Danny felt, a hand grabbed round the back of Daniel’s neck so to hold his head in place. What felt like eons passes before Danny’s mind caught up to his body, and before he began pressing against Dylan in order to sneak his own control into the kiss
“Well, if that's some new form of lecturing you’re trying out then maybe I’ll actually start to listen to you.”
A laugh. “Wouldn’t that be a miracle.” And suddenly Danny was pushing himself flush up against Dylan’s front and slamming his lips back onto the other man’s.
“Atlas can you just listen for one goddamn second-”
“Can you at least call me by my real fucking name!” Daniel shot back, whipping around and ignoring the look of shock that etched itself across Dylan's face as he yanked himself back to reality. “For one second be my friend and not my boss, for one fucking second!” He could feel himself beginning to ramble but eighteen months of ‘isolation’ and withdrawal from the only food source for Danny’s ego needed to thrive made him immune. He didn’t care and he continued, hands gesturing wildly as he did so, with just as much unrequited anger as before, “Or is that all you are? Our boss? A fucking mole that sneaks around the FBI and calls the Eye whenever it suits you best, rather than thinking for a second about letting the rest of us in on whatever bullshit plan you have.”
“Daniel you’re upset and I can tell you don’t know what you're implying,” Dylan said, his voice strung tight as it were a wire bending with terrific force as it was stretched between two poles, “But you better stop now. Don’t cross the line, the Eye has a plan but first you need to learn to-”
Cutting him off again, Daniel gave out a short and bitter laugh as he mocked Dylan as he said, “Learn to work as an organized unit? Yeah I've already heard that little one liner, you get that from the Eye too? Or are you just shitting us, like you are with these plans from the Eye.”
Dylan slammed his hand down on the table, and Daniel turned his head away as he rolled his eyes, as he snapped-his voice going from clipped to thick with a sort of wet anger unlike the biter dry rage that filled Daniels- “You’d call my bluff on the Eye? After all I’ve risked for you, for you all, you fucking brat. Eighteen months is a blink in your lifespan, and if you can’t go this long without hearing applause,” He stopped for a moment, running a hand fast through his hair before saying, “Well than maybe you oughta follow Henleys lead and go teach parlour tricks to kids.”
“Fuck you.” Getting up from the table, Daniel glared down at Dylan as he stormed out of the bar.
How dare he even talk about her, Daniel thought as he yanked his arms into his jacket, pulling the hood up as he walked down the cold streets, When it was this goddamn hideout of his that drove her away.
Shaking his head, Daniel stuffed his hands further into his pockets as he walked along the street the sound of his shoes against the pavement the only soundtrack to the words pulsing through his mind. Somewhere in his mind, hidden far behind the curse words Daniel was slinging around at Dylan, Daniel knew he was being irrational. Of course the Eye was real, Daniel knew that. But he couldn’t wait any longer, he couldn’t hide.
He needed to find out for himself.
Dylan watched as Daniel stormed out of the bar, looking out the window to see the other man tearing out of the building and down the street. He sighed, running a finger around the rim of his glass which was- by now- leaking condensation onto the table in thin rings of water. More than anything, he wanted to follow Daniel and stop the other man from doing anything stupid.
But Dylan couldn’t bring himself too.
He knew the minute Daniel started talking, the both of them would do nothing but fight. Daniel was to quick to wound when he was angry, making nothing but fast jabs and witty banter until Dylan was so red in the face he couldn't do anything but scream. And Dylan knew he’d be unable to do anything but hold a grudge about whatever insult Danny could come up with for the next month, until someone (usually Jack who had a keen annoyance for his friends acting like assholes towards one another and a strong dislike towards Daniel throwing hissy fits in every meeting Dylan called) knocked their heads together and made them both apologize.
However right now, when Dylan was so close, so close to getting the Eyes final order, he knew there wouldn't be time for a week long apology.
There just wasn't time.
And with Cowan and Austin on his ass at work, and the Eye’s constant messages for him to get the horseman to wait- Dylan really didn’t have time to be holding a grudge. Especially at Daniel.
So Dylan ignored his desire to run after the and, instead, pulled on the stiff collar of his shirt as he tried to take a sip out of the glas he hadn't realized was empty. Placing it down on the table, Dylan felt his phone vibrate in his pocket- Austin as always- and for a moment he let himself sit at the table alone.
What I really need right now, Dylan thought as he rolled the bottom of his now empty glass along the table, the wood gleaming up at him through the rings of water that his cup had left behind, is a another drink.