Title: Reunion
By: nancy
Pairing: Mac/Danny
Warnings: minor D/s, Future!fic, shmoop
Summary: Danny gets invited to his 20th High School reunion, but Mac doesn't want to go.

Danny stared at the envelope with the kind of dread reserved for being held hostage or locked in a panic room with no escape. High School Reunion. Twenty years since he’d graduated near the bottom of his class and slunk off to the Academy to work his ass off to try and get in, never mind get anywhere. He’d made it with room to spare, motivated at the time in a way he’d never been for school.

Don, as predicted, razzed the hell out of him on finding out about it. Stella just smiled and urged him to go. Since he and Montana were definitely off these days, he didn’t ask her opinion, the woman barely more than vaguely friendly after their breakup. Although really, it was probably him getting with Mac so soon after they split up that had put the strain in their friendship. His head still spun when he thought about how fast everything had happened, but in a good way.

“Danny? You going to stand in the hall all day?”

Speak of the devil, he thought, facing Mac with a smile. They were real careful to keep it off the clock, but he couldn’t help his reaction anymore than he could stop breathing.

Mac’s eyes practically twinkled at him as the other man nodded towards the envelope and questioned, “What’s that?”

Danny bit his lip as he answered, “Looks like my high school’s havin’ a reunion this year. I mean, I guess they do every five years, but someone remembered me this time. I didn’t even know they had these things so much.”

“Most schools do, yes,” Mac teased. “And how many years since you graduated?”

Making a face, Danny retorted, “Like you don’t know.”

Mac chuckled and asked, “You going?”

Danny nodded and then impulsively invited, “Come with me? I ain’t ever been to one of these things.”

Mac snorted. “Well, they’re torture, so thanks, but no thanks. You should definitely go, though, you’ve got a lot of accomplishments to be proud of.”

Even Mac’s friendly squeeze of his shoulder didn’t negate the unexpected hurt from his lover’s dismissive words. He forced a smile and said, “Yeah, you’re probably right. I ah, I gotta go. I’ll see you tonight?”

“Assuming I don’t get pulled into a double,” Mac confirmed, rueful.

Danny walked back down the hall towards the lab since he really did need to get back to work, and tossed the invitation into the nearest trash barrel on his way there.

*  *  *  *

Mac groaned and leaned back in his chair to rub at tired eyes. As he stretched, the fourteen hour day really digging in for a change, he spotted Stella striding down the hall towards his office. His stomach sank upon recognizing her ‘I’m pissed and gonna share it’ posture and quickly thought back to see what he could’ve done to tick her off. Coming up blank wasn’t a comfort, since the woman carried a grudge like nobody’s business and sometimes the oddest things set her off.

Even after so many years of friendship, Mac had only a vague clue when it came to his best friend’s tipping point. There were certain things guaranteed to piss her off, but other things that seemed perfectly innocuous that did it, too. Sighing, he settled back and waited for her to push the door open with more force than necessary and then stand in front of his desk, glaring.

Eyebrows rising, Mac asked, “What did I do this time?”

Stabbing her finger at him, Stella demanded, “Did you blow Danny off about his reunion?”

Startled, Mac replied, “I told him I didn’t want to go, but that he should. Why?”

“He’s not going.”

“And you think it’s my fault?”

Her glare didn’t waver.

Mac sighed again and asked, “Okay, I’ll bite. How is it my fault?”

Rolling her eyes at him, Stella exclaimed, “Mac, he idolizes you, although for the life of me I can’t think why sometimes. You should’ve seen how excited he was when he was first talking about it! Did you know he graduated near the bottom of his class? That most of his classmates probably thought he’d be in jail within the year? This was his way of showing everyone just how good he turned out and you trashed the idea without a single thought as to his feelings.”

Starting to feel like a heel for how unthinking he’d been to someone he truly loved, Mac tried not to slink lower in his chair. Stella on a tear was a daunting thing; a righteous Stella was to be feared. And she was completely right in this case.

“Fix it,” she ordered forcefully before storming out of the office.

Mac knew that he’d skated over the thin ice successfully, but then wondered just how the hell he could fix the situation.

*  *  *  *

Danny stared at the hotel entrance, more nervous than he’d been in a long time. He didn’t know how Stella had figured out he wasn’t going, she was kinda scary like that, but she’d badgered him at every opportunity over the last month until he’d finally agreed to go in self defense. He was dressed in his best suit, complete with shiny shoes and a fresh haircut with his tips done. Mac had mentioned once that he missed the blond and now Danny did it when he sensed the other man needed a little pick-me-up.

Taking a breath, he mentally geared up for it and walked inside. It had been a crappy day altogether and way the hell too long, but Stella had practically shoved him out the door to make sure he went to the reunion. For whatever reason, it seemed to matter to her, if not to Mac, so he’d promised to go and left work to change.

The lobby had a placard with Jefferson High – 1991 Class Reunion and an arrow pointing towards one of the ballrooms. Danny spotted a long table with a lot of little nametags on it and headed for it. It took a few minutes to find his, they weren’t in alpha order, and he couldn’t help snickering at the butt-ugly senior picture above his name. Shaking his head, he pinned it on and winked at the somewhat heavyset woman behind the table that he didn’t recognize even with her nametag on. But then, Jefferson was still a big school even today; he’d graduated with six hundred other kids.

Memories slammed him as he entered the large ballroom to EMF’s song, “Unbelievable.” He laughed outright at it, relaxing as he took in the swirling disco ball and the bad dancing in the center of the room. A large glass case had been set up to the side and he walked over to it, curious. Inside were team pictures and trophies, on which his name appeared in the baseball section. His grades might’ve been crap, but his arm had kept him in school, bringing the team to the championships that year.

Shaking his head, Danny went from there to the wall of blown-up pictures. He chuckled at his punk self on the wall in more than a few pictures, all bad attitude and sneers. “Jesus. Didn’t I know how to smile?”

“Not if you’re Danny fuckin’ Messer!” someone shouted, two hands slamming down on his shoulders from behind.

Danny jumped in real fright, his hand going for the gun under his suit coat before he realized it had to be someone he knew. Twisting out of the grip, he found a big, barrel-chested guy his age with fading brown hair, glasses, and a beer-gut. For a second he had no idea who the guy was, but then brown eyes crossed deliberately while a tongue stuck out and shock ripped through him. He blinked a few times as then and now collided and exclaimed, “Matty? Matty Ryan? Jesus! You scared the shit outta me!”

Matt Ryan, the class clown who’d hung around and defended Danny more than anyone else back in high school, pulled him in for a literal bear hug, squeezing the hell out of him and then slapping him on the back, still roaring with laughter. “Damn, Messer, you look good! What the hell happened to you, you join the Army or something?”

Danny grinned and shook his head. “Police Academy.”

Gaping, Matt demanded, “No shit?”

Straightening in pride, Danny confirmed, “No shit! Detective Danny Messer, Crime Lab, at your service.”

“Okay, now I know hell froze over when I wasn’t looking. You? Doing science stuff?” Matt teased. He put an arm over Danny’s shoulder and said, “C’mon, I got people who need to see you ain’t dead.”

The next hour passed in a blur of too-loud music, memories, and kids who were now full-grown adults living lives that Danny would never had suspected. None more than him, from everyone’s reactions to finding out he was a cop. After the tenth expression of disbelief, Danny just grinned and shook his head, commenting, “I was a real punk back then, huh?”

Jack Williams, reformed fellow punk and now Sears photographer with a pretty wife and three kids, laughed and agreed, “You and me both, buddy.”

He wound up sitting at a table that included most of his lunch-buddies and partners-in-crime of senior year. Matty, Jack, Carol, Rick, Al, Janice, and Tam, all had brought their respective spouses and pictures of kids up the yin-yang. For the second hour, all he did was look at pictures and hear about nine-to-five jobs that no one seemed to like. The alcohol started kicking in the third hour and the laughter and reminiscing got louder, while some of the women finally dragged husbands onto the dance floor.

“So you never got married?” Janice asked, leaning on the table. She was the only completely sober one, pregnant with her second child.

Danny shook his head and said, “Nah, not me. Not the marrying kind, I guess.”

She snorted, the disco lights catching her brightly dyed red hair. “Oh, that’s a load of crap. Underneath all that attitude, all the girls knew you’d be the one to catch. Well, if you didn’t kill yourself two years out of school. And we were right. So? Where is she? Where’s Miss Right?”

“Late from getting tied up at work.”

Shock of an entirely different kind hit Danny at Mac’s declaration, loud enough to be heard over the music of Bryan Adams singing with Sting and Rod Stewart about ‘All for One.’ Looking up, Danny found an immaculately dressed Mac standing right there, smiling at him, eyes crinkling at the corners. He looked damn good, the dark suit and perfectly fitted black shirt making his pale skin and eyes stand out. He finally managed, “You came!”

Mac held out a hand and admitted, “Stella is a woman to be feared under normal circumstances, let alone when she’s right about me being an ass. I should’ve just said yes in the first place. This is important to you.”

Love flushed through him at Mac’s apology, something he rarely did and never unless he truly meant it. And then embarrassment hit him as he realized Mac’s hand just waited in the air. Grabbing it, he yanked Mac down and kissed him soundly. Smiling against his lover’s mouth, he pulled back enough to say, “It’s about damn time you got here.”

“Wow. Harry never kisses me like that anymore,” Janice observed, sounding wistful.

Danny flushed again in a mix of happiness and chagrin, turning to introduce, “Janice McCormick, formerly Janice Welsh, this is my partner, Mac Taylor.”

They shook hands and she sighed dreamily and said, “Danny, you are the luckiest son of a bitch on the planet.”

It was Mac’s turn to blush, which Danny laughed at fondly while agreeing, “I sure as hell am.”

Janice’s husband, Harry, returned just then with a plate of desserts, sitting next to his wife and looking confused at the new arrival.

Mac tugged Danny to his feet and asked, “You want to dance?”

“Yes, I damn sure do,” Danny replied, lacing their fingers together.

‘Wicked Game’ started playing as they took the floor, Mac’s arm sliding around Danny’s waist like it owned the space, his other hand still linked with Danny’s. He led, just like always, but Danny didn’t even care; he just loved dancing with Mac. Resting his head on Mac’s shoulder, he sighed deeply and drifted to the slow strains.

This was way better than Prom, and not just because he planned on getting lucky later.

The song melded into others, but the fast dancing portion of the night was definitely over, which made it just about perfect in Danny’s mind. They coasted through ‘More Than Words,’ ‘Rush, Rush,’ and ‘High Enough,’ before Danny realized that Mac was probably starving if he’d gotten off work and come right to the reunion.

Pulling back, he was startled by the openly loving expression on Mac’s normally inscrutable face, but smiled in return automatically. “You hungry? I bet Janice hasn’t eaten the place down yet.”

“I could eat,” Mac agreed, leaning in for a slow, easy kiss. “Besides. You need to introduce me to the group who hasn’t stopped staring at us since we started dancing.”

Danny laughed, not worried about reactions. In high school, coming out would’ve been a horror, but life had done his friends good and they were all a lot more open minded than at the age of eighteen. Keeping Mac’s hand in his, he led the other man back to the table and found that someone had brought over an extra chair. He made introductions, reluctantly letting go of Mac’s hand so he could shake everyone else’s and then said, “I’ll go get you some food.”

Mac nodded, already engrossed in a conversation with Matty about an embarrassing incident involving jockstraps and getting locked out of the locker room. Rolling his eyes, Danny went to the table and ransacked what was left of the real food, grabbing a couple of beers while he was there. Bringing it all back, he put the food in front of Mac and popped the top on his beer before getting drawn into a discussion with Jack and Rick about the Yankees.

Time passed and before he knew it, they were trading business cards and saying goodbye because it was after midnight. Danny could barely keep his eyes open, what with the beer and getting about five hours of sleep total over the last two days. When they left, Danny leaned on Mac, arms around his waist as he yawned and actively thought about how good it would feel to crawl into bed.

Mac, who always had the devil’s own luck when finding a parking spot, was literally only half a block from the hotel, for which Danny was grateful. He dozed on the drive, waking when Mac shook his shoulder and unbuckled his seatbelt. Rubbing at his eyes, Danny asked, “We home?”

“We’re home,” Mac confirmed. “C’mon, sleepyhead. Time for all good boys to be tucked away in bed.”

Danny chuckled, a sound rusty with sleep, and answered, “Since when’ve I been a good boy?”

Mac grinned and tweaked his nose before climbing out of the SUV.

Rubbing his nose, Danny did the same and met Mac around the back of the vehicle. The garage was empty as they walked to the elevator much the same way they’d left the reunion. It was only a few minutes until they were home and Mac locked the door behind them. Groaning, exhausted, Danny pulled off the already loosened tie and tossed it on the sofa.

Mac caught him around the waist before Danny could complete the trajectory that would land him on the sofa, too. He ordered firmly, “Bed. There’s nothing on tv you need to watch.”

“Mac, it relaxes me so’s I can sleep!” Danny protested.

Rolling his eyes, Mac gripped both shoulders and pushed him towards the bedroom, walking right behind him. Even knowing that he wouldn’t have trouble sleeping, he really was wiped, Danny grumbled the whole way because it was expected. He stripped, washed up and climbed into bed in record time, falling face first onto the bed that Mac had already drawn down.

Mac joined him a few minutes later, tugging Danny into his arms so he draped over Mac’s chest. Kissing the top of Danny’s head, he murmured, “I’m glad I went. I had a great time.”

Sighing deeply, already partly asleep, Danny mumbled, “Me, too. S’not a torture thingy. I was gonna jump you when we got home, but’m too tired. Check?”

With a soft chuckle, Mac told him, “Sure. Rain check in the morning. Night, Danny.”

Danny kissed Mac’s throat and closed his eyes, drifting into darkness almost right away.

*  *  *  *

Mac stroked a hand slowly across Danny’s shoulders, not that his lover needed any help in falling asleep. His familiar weight rested easily on Mac, the steady rise and fall of his breathing the most soothing rhythm he’d ever known.

It had been a good night, surpassing all expectations. Danny’s friends were good people, ones they would look up again, if there was ever time for it. Dancing with Danny wasn’t something he got a chance to indulge in so for that alone, the night had been with it. Beyond that, though, was the chance to see a part of Danny that the younger man had never previously shared. All Mac had known of his lover’s history were the painful parts and now he had precious stories of practical jokes, friendship, and good times.

Smiling as he again kissed Danny’s forehead, Mac made a note to send Stella flowers in thanks. If he hadn’t gone, he would definitely have regretted it. Seeing the love mixed with gratitude and astonishment on Danny’s face at his arrival had reinforced what a jerk he’d been. He also made a note to make up for the hurt he’d given Danny by first turning him down and then not telling him that he’d planned to go.

He looked at the clock and groaned at seeing he had maybe four hours before he had to get back up, but it had been worth it. Stretching, he set the alarm and let himself relax the rest of the way to join Danny in sleep.