Page 35 of Lovesick Titan (Lovesick #2)

“…make sure that person recognizes how lucky they are to have you.”

The heat spread to Danny’s eyes, making them sting with the threat of tears, but he held them back. Not today. Today was a better day. “I will, Dad. I love you.”

“Love you too, kiddo. See you soon.”

After he hung up, Danny came to a stop outside Mal’s apartment building and stared at the third floor windows wondering if he was doing the right thing.

But he didn’t want to wait. He didn’t want to run.

He wanted to start fresh and do things better the second time around.

If Mal wanted nothing more to do with him, then that was okay too.

R

IA case closed. However things went down, looks like Zeus is off the hook.

Mal looked down at his phone, unable to stop the twitch of a smile that caught his mouth as he read Priestly’s message. Although he’d been the one to start this mess, feeling justified at the time, he was glad to have it behind him now.

There was still Ludgate. Whatever remaining rage Mal might feel for how these past few weeks had gone, he would channel it into facing down that cruel bastard as soon as they found him.

Good work, Hart. I owe you.

Arty says all is forgiven if we break that no double date rule. Apparently he’s a Zeus fanboy. I may have made a terrible mistake.

Mal chuckled, but his smile turned sour quickly at the thought of a date with Priestly, Arty, and Danny . He couldn’t dwell on any of that or he’d start to hope, to want , and that was dangerous before he knew whether or not he had it in him to forgive Danny completely .

Be safe, Hart , Mal answered and slid his phone into his pocket.

Entering his bathroom, he assessed himself in the mirror.

His cuts and bruises from Danny, Ludgate, and Dunkirk were faded remnants now, some still visible but mostly gone.

Now that the coast was clear of potential uniforms on his streets, he wanted to get out.

Relax. Shake off the feeling of being imprisoned by his own walls.

He’d leave the apartment, get an early dinner, and track down Dom to hit up Haven.

He owed her an explanation—and a drink. His old friend might be lenient this time, given she’d gotten to keep her paintings.

Part of Mal considered texting Danny, just to see if he was okay, just to say that he was sorry too. And how unlike him that was made him stare all the harder at his reflection.

He couldn’t stomach the thought of another heist any time soon. He needed a change of pace. His life felt empty with the hollow gap of unknown spread between him and Danny.

Grabbing his leather jacket, Mal considered taking his amplifier before deciding against it.

The hallways were quiet as he locked up behind him.

He didn’t realize they weren’t empty until he’d gone down the stairs to the second floor and discovered a familiar redhead sitting on the steps to the first. The figure faced away from him, but he’d know that silhouette and fop of hair anywhere.

“Waiting on someone?”

Danny startled, nearly falling off the bottom step as he looked over his shoulder with wide, clear eyes.

No tears this time, just his cell phone clutched in his hands that he shoved into his pocket when he stood, shoulder bag swaying across his body.

“Hey,” he said, quiet like an exhale. “I wasn’t sure if I was gonna go up. ”

They stared for a moment, Danny on the first floor, Mal on the second.

“Something you wanted, Danny?” Mal asked eventually, voice cool and expression neutral. For once in his life, he had no plan, no idea what to do next. It was terrifying and freeing at the same time as he waited to see where instinct might lead him.

Danny’s hand reached for the railing, fingers closing around it tightly like he needed an anchor. Clear or not, dry or not, his eyes held all of his emotions as if they might overflow at any moment. They seemed to answer Mal’s question that the only thing Danny wanted was right in front of him.

Mal flinched when Danny started up the steps.

The pain that crossed Danny’s face tore at him because he hadn’t meant to do that, it was just reflex, just what he’d been used to for so long—fearing closeness and touch from anyone, especially when it was offered with a kind exterior because that was never the truth, never real.

But maybe with Danny it could be. Mal wanted it to be real so badly.

“Thank you,” Danny said as he reached the top of the landing. “For the photo. Guess I won’t be spending the next few years behind bars after all. You’ll have to thank Hephaestus for me.”

Mal shifted, remembering not to be too open or trusting. There was a reason he had so many walls. “Don’t know what you mean,” he said with a slight smirk.

Rolling his eyes, Danny didn’t lose his smile.

“Few people are as talented as Andre with things like that. Priestly Hartigan is one of them. Pretty sure that was him in Andrews Electronics who ran away from me, right?” He held up a hand before Mal could deny that. “I’m glad he’s staying out of trouble.”

“Thought I was trouble,” Mal said.

“Not for me. I’m the trouble, Mal. I’ve been nothing but trouble for you.”

“Danny…”

“Let me just—”

“Will you shut up for a minute?” Mal wasn’t angry, but he had to be firm.

Even if Vaughn didn’t think they were toxic, they could be.

They so easily could be if Danny kept on like this.

“The blame isn’t only on you. Everything isn’t always solely your fault.

This doesn’t get better by having you punished for it.

I had that picture changed because you don’t need to pay for the mistakes we made together. ”

Danny looked at his feet, appearing hunched and small. “I know that. I get that now, I do. I just wanted to say how sorry I am for everything. Not just for what I did but for all the ways I tried to make up for it. Letting Helios punch me and blast me, and the pills…”

“Pills?” Mal repeated with a flare of anxiety. “What pills?”

“Uhh…” Danny met Mal’s gaze with a hooded expression like he wanted to curl in on himself and hide. “I didn’t mean to say that. ”

“What pills, Danny?”

“I didn’t actually try to take them.”

“What pills did you have ?”

“They were just placebos from Lynn! I thought they were antidepressants and—”

“And you were going to take them all?”

“No!” Danny surged forward but held back when Mal stiffened. “I wasn’t. I…I thought about it but I wasn’t .”

Mal was going to throw up all over Danny’s shoes.

“It wasn’t because of you, it was because of me.” Holding his arms around his middle, Danny looked as though that was the only way to keep him from reaching out. “I told you, I’ve been messed up lately, but you made it better. You made it easier. Then I had to go and mess that up too.”

Mal shook his head as he backed up. He’d hated Danny and he’d hated himself, but this was so much more destructive than he’d realized. “We can’t do this. You need to be away from me. I won’t be your crutch .”

“That’s not—” Danny’s eyes widened in alarm.

Arms dropping, he followed after Mal, assuredly but cautious.

“That’s not what I meant. That’s not what you were.

I tried to make you that, tried to use you that way, but I liked being with you.

Not just sleeping with you, but sharing a meal.

Watching a movie. Walking the neighborhood.

Being Zeus and Prometheus together. You weren’t a crutch then, you were that feeling of being…

” His eyes lit up brighter as his words trailed off.

“What?” Mal prompted.

Smiling in a way that crinkled the corners of his eyes, Danny said, “ Home . I don’t always feel that way at my dad’s anymore.

I haven’t felt that way much of anywhere since Mom…

Like I could be me without having to pretend anything.

And I know I’m a hypocrite for saying that, because I was pretending at first. And I’m sorry for that, Mal.

I am. I know I have a long way to go to get better, and the last thing I want is to be a burden on you, but I don’t want to do this without you. ”

He stepped closer, and again Mal wanted to back away. Not because he didn’t want to be near Danny or feel the warmth of him close, but because he did want that, so badly, but he still feared this was a mistake.

“It’s not because you’re a crutch,” Danny said, looking straight into Mal’s eyes, steady and earnest. “Being with you makes me happy. And maybe that sounds like the same thing, and it’s not fair to you, I know that, but I just want to be happy again.

I need to find that in myself, I’m working on it, but why does that mean I have to give you up?

If…” Inching closer, tentative, like it was days ago and he feared that moving too quickly meant he’d get iced for his troubles, he reached for Mal’s hand. “If you want me too.”

“Danny…” Mal trembled as their skin touched, as if an electric shock passed through him from Danny’s fingertips brushing the back of his hand. He didn’t forgive. Or forget. He didn’t move past pain, he buried it six feet under. Healing never crossed his mind.

But it had been so good in the beginning.

Wild and hot and electric just like Danny.

The slow pace, the sweet words, the deep emotions and calm moments of being beside each other that had taken Mal by surprise, and he was never snuck up on, never out-maneuvered or out-planned.

He couldn’t turn away from this, even if part of him still feared a trap in letting his guard down.

Danny’s eyes looked golden, damp but still clear as he moved closer, and Mal let him glide soft fingers around his with a gentle grip. Smiling enough to crinkle his eyes again, Danny made Mal’s heart stutter with a single look.

“I love you, Mal.”

And all at once the air rushed from his lungs.